Chicken Little

Our new Year 7 students received their first taste of TREE in the Senior School early in Term 1 with their science project on chickens.

The students hatched out day old chicks to begin the term and then separated them into 3 different groups of 4 chickens each. The different groups were fed a different proportion of protein within their crumble mix; 16%, 18% and 22% respectively.

Each day a science class went down to the agriculture plot to weigh the chickens and recorded the results. This lasted for 3-weeks by which time the students had trouble keeping the ‘flighty’ chickens in the container for weighing!

The project was a fantastic opportunity to discuss variables, explore the scientific method and to see experimental science first-hand. The students collated some brilliant results indicating that protein concentration has a dramatic effect on the growth rate of chickens.