Count Your Chickens!

A learning resource from The British Hen Welfare Trust

Numeracy

at th

e hen

house

1 2 345°

10cm

2

Thank you for downloading this resource pack. We hope you will find it useful.

We’ve produced these resource to help your pupils explore the issues around egg production while developing new skills across the curriculum and applying them to real life situations.

We love hearing from schools who have used our resources! If you have feedback, comments or suggestions that you’d like to share then please email them to learning@bhwt.co.uk We love seeing your photos and artwork too!

Using this pack...

Creative writing

Sharing a story

Discussion or debate

In this pack you will find a selection of lesson plans each with background notes, a resource list, and suggestions for extending the activities. Look out for the icons found throughout the pack to see what kind of activities or skills each element of the lesson plan supports. For example:

All activity sheets, resource sheets and supporting resources can be found at the back of the pack.

This is one of six resource packs. You can find the others, together with guidance on keeping your own school hens and other useful resources, on our website: www.bhwt.co.uk

Welcome

3

Cracking Fractions

How Many?

Chickens By Numbers

Yummy Sums

Chicken Treat Cheat Sheet

Pecking Ball Recipe

Chickens for the Cookery Club

Measuring Up activity sheet

What’s inside?Count Your ChickensFor EYFS to KS2

In these activities, pupils will take part in quick challenges to apply the mathematical skills learned in the classroom to their regular work with the school chickens.

Page 4

Tasty Treats! For EYFS and KS1

In this lesson, pupils solve simple problems and practice weighing and counting skills as they learn the importance of limiting treats and snacks and prepare healthy treats for the hens.

Page 10

Budgeting for our HensFor KS2

In this lesson, pupils prepare a budget for an imaginary school chicken coop project and develop a plan for fundraising and selling their eggs.

Page 16

Measuring UpFor KS2

In this lesson, pupils practice their measuring and mathematical skills as they produce plans and recreate the amount of space available to hens in various farming systems.

Page 20

Lesson plans

Supporting resources

Looking for the presentations associated with this resource pack? They were included with this download so you’ll find them in the same folder as this document.

4 5

Count Your Chickens

for EYFS to Key Stage 2

In these activities, pupils will take part in quick challenges to apply the mathematical skills learned in the classroom to their regular work with the school chickens.

Teacher notes

This resource provides a selection of short, simple activities that require minimal equipment and can be integrated into your group’s regular chicken care routine; many of these are also applicable to the care of other school pets.

Health and safety are a priority when working with your hens. Please see our Re-homing At School Handbook and our sample risk assessment, both available to download from our website, for guidance on all aspects of keeping the pupils safe and well during chicken care activities.

In this lesson...After taking part in this activities all pupils will

Understand how mathematical skills can be applied to a wide range of real-life activities and apply their knowledge and skills to solve problems and contribute to the life of the school.

Curriculum links and supported skills

These activities offer opportunities to support almost any aspect of the mathematics curriculum as well as embedding numeracy skills and mathematical language within a real-life context.

Chickens love fruit and veg kebabs: whole grapes and cherry tomatoes and chunks of banana, apple, pear, carrot, cucumber and melon are all ideal. You’ll need metal skewers to thread them on and twine to hang them in the coop.

Have the children sort the prepared chunks of fruit and veg into groups.

Place the ingredients on separate paper plates labelled with different letters or symbols. Prepare slips of paper with patterns describing how the pupils should add the fruit to their skewers, create a pattern and ask pupils to copy and extend it or have them create their own patterns.

Note: Remind the children that this food is for the chickens and they should not taste it. However, fruit kebabs make a great treat for kids too so perhaps they could make some of their own using separate, washed fruit.

There are lots of opportunities for grouping, sorting and ordering activities at the chicken coop:

• Grouping fruit and veg for the hens by colour, size or type.• Collecting fallen feathers (especially when the hens are moulting!) and ordering them by length or sorting them by colour. • Labelling eggs in pencil with the date laid, mixing them up and putting them back in the right order. •Ordering tools by length – which is longest, the rake, the broom, the spade or the dustpan?

Print out and cut up the Chickens by Numbers cards in this pack. Hand out one to each pupil and challenge them to form a line starting with the smallest number and ending with the largest. It’s tricky! Once they’ve made a line ask them to read out their fact in turn and make any final re-adjustments to their order. Ask if there is any new vocabulary on the cards or any chicken facts that surprised them.

Fruit patterns

Grouping, ordering and sorting

Bigger or smaller

10 - 15 minutes

20 minutes

Numeracy

Numeracy

Numeracy

Group activities

Class activity

Food-based activity

Activity Ideas

6 7

Try building in a quick counting or measuring activity every time you visit the chickens to help the pupils build their confidence in different methods of quick counting, estimating and using non-standard units of measurement.

How many beaks do we have in our chicken coop? Can the children count the total number of wings or claws? How many feathers have the chickens dropped today?

How many steps is the perimeter of the chicken run? How wide is it in arm spans? How high in hand spans? Can they predict – and then test - how many people can fit inside (when the hens aren’t using it of course!) Use sticks, shoes, brooms and other items to measure the chicken house in different ways.

How many squares are there in a panel of wire mesh? Try counting them in ones, twos and fives. Predict how many shovels of bedding it will take to fill a bucket or a wheelbarrow.

Use the How Many? activity sheet in this pack for an extended counting activity.

Provide the pupils with squares of stiff card or plastic. Introduce or recap the concept of right angles and check their understanding before asking them to predict how many right angles they can find at the chicken coop.

Head outside and show them how to use their squares to check for right angles and keep a tally of the ones they find. They may find it useful to use a piece of chalk to mark each one to avoid counting it twice.

Chicken coops can be complicated structures and often have lots of interesting angles to measure. Practice measuring and recording any angles you find around the hen house.

Save up spare 6 and 12 hole egg boxes and use them for working with fractions.

Using plastic eggs (or real ones if you’re feeling brave!) show the pupils that there are multiple ways to represent different fractions and give them some time to spend playing with the layout of the eggs in the box.

Use pipe cleaners or colourful wool to show how a box of twelve eggs can be divided into halves, thirds, and quarters, sixths and twelfths, making it easier for the children to identify common denominators and identify and name equivalent fractions.

Use the Cracking Fractions activity sheets to take this activity further. Sheet one focusses on finding different ways of representing the same

How Many?

Right angle hunters

Cracking fractions

10 - 15 minutes

20 - 30 minutes

5 - 10 minutes

Numeracy

Numeracy

Numeracy

Group activity

Independent work

Group activity

fraction and sheet two asks pupils to practice adding and subtracting fractions.

Chickens provide masses of interesting data for recording, analysing and presenting. For example:

• Do the chickens eat the same quantity of feed every day? Weigh the feed at the beginning and end of the day to find out how much they are guzzling. Don’t forget to make it a fair test by keeping all treats and supplementary feed the same each day. • How many eggs are they laying? Does the weather, the time of year or anything else seem to influence their egg production?• How do we use our time with the chickens? Carefully record how much time is spent feeding, cleaning out, handling, giving treats and watching the hens. • How do the chickens spend their time? Sit quietly and watch them for a short period each day. Do they spend more time eating or perching? Preening or dust bathing?

Whatever they choose to record, the pupils should think carefully about what question/s they are aiming to answer, how they are going to accurately record their observations or measurements, and the best method for presenting the data. What conclusions can they draw from it? Is there anything they could have done to make their measurements more accurate?

If you’re having too much fun to go back inside the classroom then Creative Star Learning have some great suggestions for outdoor data handling activities.

Recording and presenting data

10 - 15 minutes

Numeracy

Group activities

Working with data

Forget counting daisies, there’s chicken poo to be counted! If your chickens are free ranging this activity will help the pupils map out where they prefer to spend their time.

Use a quadrat (preferably an undivided one as it gets less messy) or a hoop, or create your own disposable quadrats for this activity by stretching a wire coat hanger into a square.

Choose a number of different locations around the area in which the hens free range or decide on a method for placing the quadrats randomly.

Place the quadrats and count and record the number of droppings at each sampling site. Use these findings to find the average number of droppings per sample site.

Once they’re measured the area in which the hens free range the pupils can then use this information to estimate the total number of chicken droppings in the area.

Chicken poo quadrats

1 hour

Numeracy

Group activities

Working with data

8 9

For example:

There are an average of three chicken droppings in a 0.25m2 quadrat. The chickens have access to an area of 50m2.

The estimated number of chicken droppings in the area would be:

3 × (50 ÷ 0.25) = 600 chicken droppings!

The pupils can also use this data to establish whether the hens prefer a particular area. For example, do they spend more time sheltering under the trees or scratching along the fence?

Of course, careful hygiene is essential for this kind of activity. You may wish to provide disposable shoe covers (or plastic bags) and gloves are a very good idea as the children will be handling mucky equipment. All equipment must be thoroughly cleaned with disinfectant and hot water after the activity and care must be taken not to bring messy shoes into the classroom. Everyone must wash their hands thoroughly.

Involve the pupils in the purchase of chicken supplies such as feed and bedding; helping to manage the budget can be a great way to involve pupils who don’t want to get hands-on but would still like to contribute to the care of the hens.

There are lots of different ways to involve the pupils with budgeting:

• Comparing the cost of different brands and quantities of feed to decide which is the best value for money. • Calculating the annual, monthly, weekly and daily cost of keeping the hens. • Collecting, counting and recording money from egg sales and even creating a simple business plan to improve sales. • Calculating the cost of holiday boarding.• Calculating the mileage and petrol costs associated with buying chicken supplies.

The Budgeting For Our Hens lesson plan in this pack explores different aspects of budgeting in more detail.

It’s simple to weigh an egg but can the pupils accurately measure its dimensions and volume? Give them a few minutes to brainstorm ideas then gather their responses.

To measure the dimensions of the egg at its longest and widest points a ruler will work fine but a pair of callipers or a length of string wrapped around the egg will be even more accurate.

The pupils may be aware that they can measure the volume of an egg by displacement. Explain that if you immerse an object in liquid it will displace, or push out of the way, an amount of liquid equal to its own volume. This discovery was Archimedes’ ‘Eureka!’ moment as he solved

Managing a budget

Mass, length and volume

Various

15 - 45 minutes

Numeracy

Numeracy

Group activities

Learning about money

the problem while taking a bath… but he may still have worked it out if he’d chosen to boil himself an egg instead!

To measure the volume of your egg you’ll need a clear beaker (200ml is perfect) with marked graduations. Fill the beaker with enough water to cover an egg and read off and record the water level. Place the egg in the beaker and record the new water level. Subtract the first measurement from the second to find out how much water was displaced and the volume of the egg in millilitres.

As a final challenge, can the children work out a method of measuring the surface area of the egg? This is a tricky one!

They could try covering it neatly in pieces of tin foil or cling film then peeling them off and measuring their area, or coating it in paint and rolling it across a piece of paper to make an imprint that corresponds to the egg’s surface. What other methods can they come up with? Encourage them to experiment and be creative with this difficult problem.

Yes, it’s another activity about chicken poo!

It’s not the nicest topic but worming hens is an important part of keeping them healthy and another great way to involve the pupils in some real-life problem-solving.

Firstly, you may wish to send off a faecal egg count sample; kits can be purchased fairly cheaply online and come with full instructions on collecting a representative sample from your flock. The sample will be examined in a lab where they are checked for worm eggs and a result will be returned to you in the form of eggs per gram (e.p.g). You can use this result to conduct research into worming the hens with the pupils and help them devise a plan for parasite control.

Sending off samples before and after worming and asking the pupils to calculate the percentage difference between the two results will demonstrate clearly whether or not your worming regime is working.

When it comes to worming your hens the pupils can help calculate the cost of wormer per hen and the dosage that must be added to their feed to worm the whole flock.

Parasite problems

Various

Numeracy

Working with data

10 11

Tasty Treats!for EYFS or Key Stage 1 one

In this lesson, pupils solve simple problems and practice weighing and counting skills as they learn the importance of limiting treats and snacks and prepare healthy treats for the hens.

Teacher notes

This lesson plan is best suited for schools keeping their own hens, although it could be adapted for use with a farm visit or with another school pet.

Although commercial chicken feed contains everything your hens need to be healthy, providing a variety of extra foods is a good way to keep them occupied and prevent them getting bored. Pupils generally love feeding treats to their hens but it can be very easy to over feed them, especially when the whole class is involved!

When feeding treats to your hens please bear the following in mind:

• Treats (anything that isn’t their regular layers pellets) should make up no more than 10% of their diet.• Treats should ideally be fed in the afternoon to ensure that the hens fill up on pellets first. • Any uneaten treats should be cleared out of the run daily.

All pupils will

Be able to explain why limiting treats is a good idea for both people and pets so that they can make healthier decisions.

Most pupils will

Be able to correctly measure out a healthy portion of treats so that they can feel confident they’re feeding their hens correctly.

Some pupils will

Be able to devise feeding guidelines for use by other staff and pupils so that they can share what they have learned.

In this lesson...

• Understanding the importance to humans of the right types of food • Carrying out food preparation tasks hygienically and safely• Identifying the steps to complete a task or reach a solution• Selecting appropriate equipment and resources• Counting by grouping in 2s, 5s and 10s• Doubling and halving• Using and recording ordinal numbers in practical situations• Solving one-step problems of addition, subtraction, multiplication and

division• Representing multiplication as repeated addition using arrays• Understanding and using different mathematical language for

addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and equals• Using standard units to measure weight and capacity• Reading analogue and digital clocks• Extract and interpret information from lists • Ordering and comparing the cost of items• Planning and tracking money and savings by keeping accurate

records• Realising that budgeting is important and learning to look after money

carefully• Adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing numbers up to three

digits using appropriate mental and written methods• Calculating percentage difference

• Avocado, onion, green potatoes, meat and sugary, salty, oily or fatty foods should not be given as snacks. • It is illegal to feed your hens any food, including scraps, that was intended for human consumption. Any fresh food purchased or grown for your hens should not be prepared in a kitchen.

This lesson is an exciting way to get everyone involved in providing treats for the hens without accidentally overfeeding. It also introduces the idea of paying attention to our own snacking choices and habits.

In this lesson we’ve avoided describing snacks as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, emphasising instead that all foods are fine to eat sometimes as long as they are part of a healthy and varied diet. It’s also important to bear in mind that most young children have very little control over what they eat and may not have the opportunity to make healthy choices. It is, therefore, important not to inadvertently demonise particular foods; instead, try and emphasise that no single food, even healthy ones, should be eaten in excess.

The pupils will finish this lesson by baking healthy pecking balls for their hens. You can feed these as they are or bake them with a loop of wire or skewer for easy hanging.

Curriculum links and supported skills

12 13

Key vocab Variety, diet, treats, enrichment.

Resources needed

• Two hoops and two large pieces of paper labelled ‘Everyday snacks’ and ‘Sometimes snacks’.

• A selection of the Yummy Sums cards, chosen to match your group’s numeracy level, printed and laminated (you will find simple and more complex cards for you to choose from).

• A copy of the Yummy Sums activity sheet for each pupil. • Two or three fresh treats for the chickens (see the Chicken Treat

Cheat Sheet in this pack)• A copy of the Pecking Balls recipe resource sheet together with all the

equipment and ingredients listed.

Begin by asking pupils to list their favourite snacks, writing each suggestion on a piece of paper. Lay out two hoops on the floor and label one ‘Everyday snacks’ and the other ‘Sometimes snacks’. Ask the class what makes something an everyday food or a sometimes food.

An everyday food…

• Gives us energy that lasts between meals• Helps our brains think and learn• Helps our bones and teeth grow strong• Helps our bodies work properly

A sometimes food…

• Is something we mostly eat for fun• Is often something we eat as a special treat, or as a part of a

celebration• Is part of a healthy diet but only in small amounts

Have the pupils take turns at choosing one of the snacks they listed earlier and choosing which hoop to place it in, offering the rest of the class the chance to say if they agree and discussing their responses.

Once all the snacks have been divided up, ask the class what they think might happen if they ate the foods in the ‘Sometimes snacks’ hoop too often.

• They might find it harder to run, play and learn• Their brains might feel sleepy or slow

Everyday foods and sometimes food

15 minutes

Discussion or debate

How to run it

Explain that chickens and other pets also have everyday foods and sometimes foods, and it is up to the people looking after them to give them the right kinds of food in order for them to feel happy and healthy.

Show a bucket of layers pellets and invite the pupils to touch and smell them. Can they guess what they are made of? Explain that they are made of ingredients like wheat, beans and corn, a bit like breakfast cereal for chickens! These are the chickens’ everyday food and they are healthy for their bones, muscles, feathers and every other part of their body. However, eating the same thing all the time could get a bit boring for the chickens so the pupils are going to make a list of chicken treats and work out the correct amount to feed of each.

Place the Yummy Sums cards on tables around the room or hang them around the playground. Hand out the Yummy Sums activity sheets; you may wish to put the pupils in pairs or threes for this activity or have them working individually. They are to find each card, solve the problem and write the answer on their sheet.

Explain that the quantities given on the Yummy Sums cards are for just one hen. Choose a couple of the suggested treats and have the pupils measure or count out the appropriate amount based on the number of hens in your flock.

You can use these cards regularly as part of your chicken care routine, choosing one or two a day and having the pupils prepare the chicken treats by solving the problem on the card.

Now it’s time to cook up some healthy treats for the hens. Follow the Pecking Balls recipe in this pack, using the following opportunities to practice using mathematical skills and language. Step 1: How many holes in a muffin tin?

Explain that each muffin tin can hold 3 x 4 pecking balls. Show a muffin tin and explain that it is easy to solve the multiplication problem as the tin is an array: 4+4+4 muffins = 12!

Add six cake cases to the tin. What fraction of the tin is filled? Add two more cases; how about now?

Yummy sums

Let’s make a healthy snack

20 minutes

Numeracy

Numeracy

Problem solving

Food-based activity

Group work

• Their bodies might find it harder to work properly, grow or heal themselves from illness or injuries

• They might get bored of eating them and stop enjoying them as much

Choose a food from the ‘Everyday snacks’ hoop and ask what would happen if they only ever ate this one food. Explain that their bodies need lots of different kinds of foods to grow and work properly, so eating a variety of foods is more important than eating lots of lots of just a few healthy foods.

14 15

20 minutes

Use colourful cake cases to practice creating different arrays or naming fractions before adding a cake case to each hole and getting ready to bake.

Step 2: Scaling up the recipe

The recipe is for six pecking balls… but that won’t make enough to fill the muffin tin. Can the pupils scale up the recipe to make twelve pecking balls instead?

Step 3: How will we measure everything?

Introduce the different ways of measuring the ingredients: scales, measuring jugs, tablespoons and teaspoons. Explain that the scales measure ingredients by telling us how heavy they are; this is their weight, measured in grams. The jug measures ingredients by telling us how much space they take up; this is their volume, measured in millilitres.

Ask pupils to take turns reading items from the ingredients list aloud and, using the units provided, suggest the best way of measuring each.

Step 4: Collect the eggs!

Take a trip to the hen house to see if your chickens have laid some fresh eggs for the pecking balls – don’t forget to wash your hands afterwards.

Step 5: Measuring, pouring, mixing

Before measuring out the ingredients, pass them around so the children can get a sense of the weight and size of different quantities. With the pupils’ help, measure out each ingredient, add it to the bowl, and give everyone a chance to stir the mixture.

As you make the pecking balls, help the class practice reading the units on the scales and jug, measuring carefully, and using mathematical language, for example:

• Is the jug full, half full or empty?• Is there too much flour or not enough?• We need 100 grams of layers pellets. We’ve measured 90 grams.

How many more grams do we need? • We need half that quantity of dried fruit so let’s divide it by two. • Which is bigger, the teaspoon or tablespoon?• We’re using an equal amount of sweetcorn and sunflower seeds.

Step 6: Bake the pecking balls

If possible, involve the pupils in setting the oven temperature and discuss the units on the oven. Do they go up in steps of twenty five, fifty or something different?

The pecking balls need to bake for twenty minutes. How many sets of ten, five and two minutes is that? Take a look at the clock; what time will

Class activity

Some of the snacks prepared for the hens may look tempting for the children! Remind them that the food in this activity is for the chickens and is not to be tasted.

The pecking balls contain raw eggs so the pupils should take care to wash their hands after handling the mixture. The pecking balls take a little while to cool down so take care when handling them once they’re out of the oven.

Keeping everyone safe

Taking it furtherCreate posters to hang at the coop or an instruction booklet to share with other classes who work with the chickens, listing suitable quantities of healthy snacks.

Working backwards from the Chicken Treats Cheat Sheet have the pupils set problems for each other to solve.

Try some of the quick numeracy activities in our Count Your Chickens lesson plan in this pack if you want to extend this lesson.

they be ready?

Let your pecking balls cool and take a trip to the coop to see if your hens enjoy them.

16 17

Budgeting for our hens

for Key Stage 2

In this lesson, pupils prepare a budget for an imaginary school chicken coop project and develop a plan for fundraising and selling their eggs.

Teacher notes

During this lesson plan pupils follow the story of an imaginary school cookery club as they plan for their new school chickens, raise the funds they need, and begin selling their own eggs. It is designed in this way to make it useful to all schools, whether or not they keep their own hens, but if you do keep chickens at your school then you will have plenty of interesting data of your own to gather and use in place of the data we have provided.

This lesson can be delivered all in one go or spread out over a week. It makes a great addition to any financial capability events or activities that you have planned.

The scenario used in this lesson has the cookery club re-homing six ex-battery hens and monitoring their egg laying to predict how much money they can raise from egg sales over one year. It is important to realise that ex-battery hens (hens re-homed from caged farming systems after a

In this lesson...All pupils will

Be able to describe the function and elements of a simple budget so that they can apply budgeting skills to their own lives.

Most pupils will

Be able to carry out a range of multi-step calculations so that they can apply these skills to solving real-life financial problems.

Some pupils will

Be able to describe the steps taken to plan, fund and carry out a successful project so that they can confidently contribute to events and projects within their own school and community.

• Identifying the appropriate steps and information needed to complete a task

• Calculating percentage quantities based on 10%• Using the terms profit and loss in activities and making calculations

for this• Ordering and comparing the cost of items• Planning and tracking money and savings by keeping accurate

records• Realising that budgeting is important and learning to look after money

carefully• Adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing numbers up to three

digits using appropriate mental and written methods• Extracting and interpreting information from diagrams and graphs• Using mean to describe a data set• Gathering and recording data• Transferring mathematical skills to a variety of contexts • Drawing conclusions from data and recognising that some

conclusions may be misleading or uncertain• Recognising the needs of animals and people, and understanding

their responsibilities towards others• Understanding where food comes from• Using the internet for independent research

year of laying) are unpredictable in their egg production and expected life span.

They have been bred to lay a huge number of eggs (over 300) in their first year of maturity but after this their laying begins to decrease so they are replaced with younger hens. Once re-homed with families and schools the hens may continue to lay well (sometimes five or even six eggs each week), they may stop laying altogether or they may fall somewhere in the middle. Some hens will die after a few days or weeks in their new home while others will live for several years.

Key vocab Budget, expenses, income, profit, loss, mean, cost, price

The activities in this lesson are all based around

Resources needed

• 5 – 6 copies of the Chickens for the Cookery Club activity sheet• Calculators• Scrap paper• Internet access

Group work Learning about money

Numeracy

Curriculum links and supported skills

18 19

Put the pupils in groups of four or five and hand out part one of the Chickens for the Cookery Club activity sheet. Ask one pupil to read out the introduction to the rest of the class.

Ask them to suggest how the members of the Cookery Club could go about working out whether or not they have enough money to buy their chickens.

The first step is to decide what they need. Ask the groups to spend a couple of minutes brainstorming everything they think might be needed to keep chickens. Ask them to think carefully about the day to day care of the hens when making their list.

Hand out part 2 of the Chickens for the Cookery Club activity sheet which shows everything the Cookery Club have decided they need to buy.

The second step is to make a budget. Ask the class if they can explain what a budget it, and what it is used for.

Explain that a budget is a way of dividing up your money, working out what you are going to do with it, and checking how much you have left.

Can they think of any examples of times when they might want to make a budget, for example when planning a holiday or when saving up for a big treat?

Hand out part 3 of Chickens for the Cookery Club activity sheet and talk through the different elements of the simple budget. Do the children know, or can they guess, what ‘income’ and ‘expenses’ mean?

In their groups have them fill in the budget sheet using the list of necessary chicken supplies. Do the cookery club have enough money saved up to buy everything?

Can we afford it?

30 minutes

How to run it

The groups should have reached the conclusion that they are £25 short of the total amount needed. Ask for their suggestions on how they could raise the extra money and explain that the cookery club decided to take £25 of their saved up money and spend it on ingredients to make cakes for a bake sale.

Give each group a copy of part 4 of the Chickens for the Cookery Club activity sheet and ask them to work together to complete the planning table for the bake sale and calculate the total income and profit. It may be useful to check that they are clear on the difference between total money taken and total profit made before they begin.

Planning a fund-raiser

30 minutes

If you’re looking for a fundraising project and an opportunity for a real-life budgeting and planning exercise, why not hold a Free Range Friday?

The aim of Free Range Friday™ is to raise funds and awareness for the British Hen Welfare Trust by asking individuals, companies and community groups or schools to hold a get together and cook or bake using free range eggs.

Fundraising packs are provided which include all the materials you need to get you started; invitation cards, posters, stickers and a handy guide full of ideas of how to make your event a success.

Want to know more? Order one of our free fundraising packs by emailing fundraise@bhwt.co.uk

Taking it further

Now that the cookery club have successfully raised enough money to get their chickens, they can begin selling their eggs.

In the final part of this activity, the pupils will interpret and gather data to decide how many eggs they can expect to sell and how much to charge for them.

Hand out part 5 of the Chickens for the Cookery Club activity sheet and have the pupils work in their groups to extract the data they need from the chart. Do they agree with how the cookery club chose to collect and represent their data? Could they have done anything differently?

When they are ready to start on part 6 you can either conduct a survey of egg prices in local shops or use the online shopping sites for various supermarkets.

Selling our eggs

30 minutes

20 21

Measuring Upfor Key Stage 2

In this lesson, pupils practice their measuring and mathematical skills as they produce plans and recreate the amount of space available to hens in various farming systems.

Teacher notes

This lesson has pupils produce a scale drawing of an existing chicken coop or one of their own design before asking them to calculate the living space available to hens living on different farms. It is suitable for schools both with and without their own hens.

The second part of the lesson will help pupils understand some of the differences between caged, barn, free range and organic egg production systems. You can find lots of information on each farming method in the Egg Production Fact Sheets included our All Cooped Up Pack.

In the UK we produced the following numbers of eggs using the different systems:

In this lesson...All pupils will

Explain the reasons for and method of drawing a plan to scale so that they can choose a suitable scale for their own work.

Most pupils will

Carry out calculations of perimeter and area so that they can solve problems and draw conclusions using real-life data.

Some pupils will

Describe what constitutes high welfare accommodation for chickens so that they can decide whether their own school chicken housing (if applicable) and that used on different farming systems, provides a good standard of welfare.

• Estimating and visualising size when measuring• Using the correct units of measurement and converting between units• Measuring and calculating perimeter• Selecting and constructing appropriate diagrams with suitable scales• Using simple ratio and proportion• Calculating and comparing the area of squares and rectangles• Recognising and using square numbers• Read and interpret scales or divisions on a range of measuring

instruments• Drawing and labelling accurately• Identifying the appropriate steps and information needed to complete

a task• Transferring mathematical skills to a variety of contexts• Drawing conclusions from data and recognising that some

conclusions may be misleading or uncertain• Comparing numbers with 1 and 2 decimal places• Recognising the needs of animals and people, and understanding

their responsibilities towards others.• Learning about a range of jobs• Knowing where and how foods are grown, reared and processed• Building vocabulary• Using simple fieldwork skills• Understanding types of land use• Developing critical thinking as part of decision making

2014 2015Caged hens 43% 44%Barn hens 2% 2%Free range hens 52% 51%Organic hens 2% 2%

.

Different production systems have different maximum stocking densities (the number of hens that can be kept per square metre or per hectare) as well as maximum flock sizes. These figures, together with the dimensions of commercially available poultry units, have been used to produce the space/ hen problem in this part of the lesson.*

Key vocab Scale, predators, coop, caged, organic, free range, welfare

Resources needed

• A4 or A3 graph/ grid paper for each pupil• A copy of the Measuring Up activity sheet for each pupil• A selection of measuring equipment (rulers, tape measures, metre

rules, trundle wheels) • Pencils and scrap paper• Calculators• Internet access (optional)• Masking tape or chalk, and access to the playground or a room with

clear floor space. • Balloons or a soft toy hen (optional)

*Figures taken from the DEFRA report United Kingdom Egg Statistics – Quarter 3, 2016. The latest figures from the egg industry are released quarterly and available at .gov.uk

Curriculum links and supported skills

22 23

In this activity, pupils will be producing a scale plan of a chicken house and run.

Begin by discussing the concept of scale.

• Why do we need to use a scale when we draw plans for large objects or structures? • Given the size of the structure they will be drawing, and the size paper they will be using, can they suggest a sensible scale?• What kind of jobs is this skill important for? Architects, construction workers, carpenters, landscapers and many other roles use this skill on a daily basis.

Next, ask the pupils to brainstorm what they think a good chicken house and run need. They can do this collectively as a class or in small groups. Responses should include:

• Enough space for the hens to sleep and exercise. • Somewhere for them to lay eggs.• Easy ways to comfortably collect the eggs and clean out the chickens.• Shelter from the wind, rain and sun. • Protection from predators.

Show a selection of images of chicken coops (a quick Google Image search will give you thousands!) or give the pupils some time to research poultry housing online. Do they think some designs are better than others? Do they meet all the requirements they identified in their brainstorm?

You can then run this activity in several ways:

If you have a chicken coop at school already: Ask the pupils to measure the coop and any features such as trees in the surrounding area then create an accurate scale drawing of their coop before answering the questions on the Measuring Up activity sheet.

If you’re planning to build a chicken coop at school: Take a walk together around the school grounds to identify a suitable spot for the coop, or investigate the proposed location. Ask the pupils to suggest how the features in their chosen area will affect plans to build a coop. Is there anything in the way? Will it affect where people usually walk or play? Will anything need to be done to prepare the ground for the new structure?

Challenge the pupils to draw a scale plan for a proposed chicken coop of their own design before answering the questions on the Measuring Up activity sheet. The pupils should use the coop specifications on the sheet to guide their design.

Measuring our coop

45 - 60 minutes

Outdoor activity

Working with data

How to run it

Explain that egg-laying hens live on different types of farms. Provide a brief description of caged, barn, free range and organic systems using our information sheets or the Four Little Eggs presentation, both found in our All Cooped Up resource pack.

In this activity, pupils will be calculating how much space an individual chicken living in each of the four systems has available to her.

Display the Living Space presentation on the whiteboard, provide scrap paper, and ask the pupils to work in pairs to calculate the area provided for a single hen on each type of farm.

To help visual these measurements, have the pupils work in teams mark out the following shapes on the classroom floor using masking tape or the playground using chalk:

Caged hen: 27.5cm x 27.5cmBarn hen: a 33cm x 33cm rectangleFree range hen: a 33cm x 33cm rectangle and a 2m x 2m squareOrganic hens: a 39cm x 39cm rectangle and a 5m x 2m rectangle

A soft toy hen or an inflated balloon can further help them visualise the space available.

How do chicken farms measure up?

30 - 40 minutes

Group work

Numeracy

Alternatively, if a coop has already been chosen, provide the pupils with images and its dimensions and ask them to measure and mark out its footprint in the proposed location, thinking carefully about how they position it.

If you’re not planning on building a coop at school: Follow the instructions as above but explain that the pupils will be creating a plan for an imaginary coop. As it is not really going to be built they can decide how many chickens they would keep in their imaginary coop and how large they would like it to be.

Challenge the pupils to draw a scale plan for a proposed chicken coop of their own design before answering the questions on the Measuring Up activity sheet. The pupils should use the coop specifications on the sheet to guide their design.

Alternatively, choose a coop plan from the many available online. Ask the pupils to calculate the true measurements and mark out the footprint of the coop on the playground.

24

If you’re planning for a chicken coop then carry out litter, wildlife and tree surveys at one or more proposed locations in the school groups.

Ask the pupils to present their findings and either suggest the best site, giving the reasons for their decision or make suggestions for improving the suggested site such as the creation of a path or regular litter picks.

Before working outside brief the pupils on keeping themselves safe. Depending on the area you’re using you may wish to check it before hand for hazards including litter, ponds or dog or cat mess.

Taking it further

Keeping everyone safe

Cracking Fractions Part one

You have a box of six eggs. You want to make breakfast so you remove two.

What fraction of the eggs are left?Colour them in and label the fraction.

You have a box of twelve eggs. You want to make pancakes so you remove six.

What fraction of the eggs are left?Colour them in and label the fraction.

You have a box of twelve eggs. You want to make a cake so you remove 2/3rds of the eggs.

How many of the eggs are left?Colour them in and label the fraction.

Can you find two more ways of representing the same fraction?Draw lines to show how you are dividing up your egg boxes.

Can you find two more ways of representing the same fraction?Draw lines to show how you are dividing up your egg boxes.

Cracking Fractions Part two

Colour in or label each fraction then answer the questions. Remember, you can draw lines to divide up your egg boxes.

+

+

+

+

=

=

=

=

1/3

1/3

1/2

1/2

How many...

There are

There are

There are

There are

chickens in the chicken coop

beaks in the chicken coop

wings in the chicken coop

legs in the chicken coop

How many beaks?

How many eyes?

How many legs?

legs + =eyes

Yummy sums

Chickens need the right foods to stay healthy. Find the cards and solve the problems to find out what amount of each treat we should feed them.

chunks

grapes

chunks

chunks

teaspoons

chunks

Tablespoons

Tablespoons

pieces

pieces

chunks smalltomatoes

Yummy sums: simple problems

1 + 5 chunks

pumpkin

2 x 2 grapes

9 - 6 pieces of broccoli

6 ÷ 2 chunks of banana

Yummy sums: simple problems continued

10 - 9 tablespoons

of peas

5 - 10 pieces of

pasta

7 ÷7 tablespoons

of mixed corn

12 - 9 small

tomatoes

Yummy sums: simple problems continued

1 + 5 chunks of

apple

2 x 2 chunks

of carrot

9 - 6cabbage

leaves

16 - 14 teaspoons of mealworms

Yummy sums: more complex problems

24 ÷ 4 chunks ofpumpkin

¼ of 16 grapes

0.5 x 6 pieces of broccoli

√  9 chunks of banana

Yummy sums: simple problems continued

(3 x 3) – 8 tablespoons

of peas

(The number of toes on a chicken) – 3 pieces of

pasta

(9 x 2) ÷ 18 tablespoons of mixed

corn

1/3 of 9 small

tomatoes

Yummy sums: simple problems continued

0.25 of 24 apple chunks

√ 16 carrot

chunks

(40 ÷ 10) – 1

cabbage leaves

- 5 + 7 teaspoons

of mealworms

Chicken treat cheat sheet

Remember: chickens should not be fed meat, dairy, avocado or salty, sugary or oily foods. No food that has been prepared in a kitchen should be fed to chickens. Choose one treat per day only!

TreatMax quantity/

hen/ dayHow to prepare it

Grapes 4 grapes Chop in half. Grapes are not suitable for bantams.

Apple chunks A quarter of an appleChop into half inch chunks. Try threading onto

skewers as part of a fruit kebab.

Banana slices 2 slicesTry threading onto skewers as part of a fruit kebab or mash banana into cracks in a log, a pine cone or

half a coconut shell.

Greens/ cabbage 1 - 2 large leaves Hang leaves up whole or shred finely.

Sprouts 2 sproutsTry threading onto skewers or playing chicken

football!

Mixed corn 1 tablespoonGreat for training hens to eat out of your hand or

scatter it so they can scratch for it.

Peas 1 tablespoonScatter them and watch the hens run around after

them! Feeding frozen peas in the summer can help hot hens cool down.

Broccoli or cauliflower

2 florets Break into smaller pieces or hang an entire head of broccoli up for pecking.

Porridge 2 tablespoons Make the porridge up with warm water and no salt or sugar.

Carrot 4 chunks or half a small carrot

No need to peel, just chop into half inch chunks.

Chicken treat cheat sheet continued

TreatMax quantity/

hen/ dayHow to prepare it

Popcorn 1 heaped tablespoonTry threading some plain popcorn onto thin twine

(use a darning needle) and hanging up in the run.

Pumpkin/ squash 1 tablespoons or 2 small chunks. For a flock treat have ¼ of a pumpkin.

Peelings (apple, carrot, parsnip,

courgette)

3 tablespoons Hang them around the run.

Potato 1 small potato Never feed raw potato or potato peelings – cook and mash them. Remove any very green bits.

Pecking balls recipe

You will need:

175g layers pellets200g mixed corn50g mixed grit50g sweetcorn50g sunflower seeds1 free range egg1tablespoon vegetable oil50ml water

A muffin/ cupcake tinPaper cake cases

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 160 ° C/ 325 °F/ gas mark 3

2. Pour the hot water over the layer’s pellets and stir to mix. Leave aside for a couple of minutes for the pellets to soak up the water.

3. Stir in the other ingredients. Mix well until the pellets have broken down and everything begins to stick together.

4. Roll into large balls and place each ball into a paper cake case.

5. Bake for around 30 minutes until hard. The cooking time will depend on the size of your pecking balls - it is better to leave them in for longer if you’re unsure.

6. Leave to cool then surprise your hens with a treat!

This recipe makes six pecking balls.

Please note: due to the legislation governing the feeding of poultry these should only be prepared in a vegan kitchen or a classroom where no food is prepared for human consumption.

Chickens for the cookery club part one

Can we afford it?

These are the members of the St Gallus Primary Cookery Club.

Emma

Sam

Josh

Ryan

Lori

Freya

Callum

Chloe

Ben

Ameena

Mrs Talbot

They have decided they would like to start keeping chickens at school. They plan to learn how to care for them and sell their eggs to pay for other ingredients for their cookery classes as well as using some of the eggs to make cakes, pancakes and omelettes.  They ask the headmistress if they can keep their chickens in a corner of the playing field. The space she gives them is 7 metres long and 6 metres wide. They decide that they have enough space to keep six chickens.  The Cookery Club wrote some letters to local businesses and a local company has offered to give them £250. They have £38 saved up from last year’s bake sales. A parent has offered to give them a hen house that they no longer use.  

Ameena says they can’t afford the chickens and everything they need. Sam says they can. Who is right?

Chickens for the cookery club part two

What do we need to buy?

A donation for ex-battery hens

£5 per hen

A big bag of chicken feed

£12

A plastic feeder

£10

A plastic drinker

£8

Brushes, buckets, and

cleaning supplies

£12

Two bags of chicken treats

£5 per bag

A big bag of bedding for the

coop

£11

Welly boots for all ten members of the cookery club

£8 per pair

Fencing around the chicken area

£3 per metre

Two plastic bins for storing feed

and bedding

£11 per bin

A lock for the hen house door

£5

A roll of chicken wire to keep

foxes out

£9

Chickens for the cookery club part three

Making a budget

Expenses

IncomeWhere has the money come from? Amount

A donation from a local business

Money saved from cake sales

TOTAL

Item Cost each Quantity needed Total

Ex-battery hens

A big bag of feed

A plastic feeder

A plastic drinker

Cleaning supplies

A bag of chicken treats

A bag of bedding

Welly boots

Fencing

Storage bins

A lock

A roll of wire

TOTAL

Difference between income and expenses

Chickens for the cookery club part four

Planning a fundraising event

Cake This recipe is for...

Cost per piece

Total cost to make

We should sell each piece for

How much will we take

if we sell everything?

Emma’s flapjacks

24 flapjacks

28p £6.72 40p £2.88

Lori’s mum’s amazing chocolate cake

1 large cake (10 slices)

£3.70 80p £4.30

Ben’s Welsh cakes

7p £1.12 40p £5.28

Callum’s rice crispy cakes

20 chunks 18p 50p £6.40

Mrs Talbot’s carrot cake

15 squares 21p £3.15 60p

Freya’s pink sparkly cupcakes

24 cupcakes

25p £6.00 £6.00

Total cost to make the cakes

Total money taken if we sell everything

Total profit if we sell everything

How much money did they take in total?

How much profit did they make?

The bake sale is very popular and the cookery club sell:

20 flapjacks, all the chocolate cake, 14 welsh cakes, 4/5ths of the rice crispy cakes, 13 squares of carrot cake and all the cupcakes.

Chickens for the cookery club part five

How many eggs do our hens lay?

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Anna Elsa Jasmine Belle Tiana Bumblebee

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4

The Cookery Club are excited to start selling their eggs. They give their new chickens a month to settle in then start recording how many eggs they are lay-ing. They take careful notes for a month.

Which hen laid the fewest eggs in week three?

Which hen laid the most eggs in total?

How many eggs were laid in week 1?

What was the mean number of eggs laid in week 2?

How many eggs did Bumblebee lay in total?

What was the total number of eggs laid during the month?

What was the mean number of eggs laid per week? (rounded down)

Using this data, calculate the number of eggs the pupils could expect the hens to lay during the next twelve months.

Chickens for the cookery club part six

Selling our eggs

The Cookery Club decide to keep 12 eggs a month for their own cooking classes. They also decide to give 12 eggs a month to Mrs Talbot to say thank you for helping them with the hens.

They carry out a survey of the price of a 6 box of free range eggs at six different shops.

The pupils decide to price their eggs 10% higher than the mean supermarket price as they are from extra special hens.

How much will the cookery club charge for a box of six eggs?

How much money can they expect to make from selling their eggs for twelve months?

Shop Price for a box of six free range eggs

Price per egg

What is the mean cost of a box of six free range eggs?

What is the mean cost of a single free range egg?

Measuring up

Your task is to create a scale drawing of a chicken house and run.

Remember:

• Chickens need enough space. Each hen needs 30cm2 of indoors space and at least 1m2 of outdoor space in their run, although 2m

2 each is even

better. • Chickens need a safe, quiet place to lay their eggs. They should have one

nest box for every three hens and each nest box should be 30cm2.• You need to be able to easily open your house and run to catch your

chickens, collect their eggs and clean them out. • Chickens need to be kept safe from foxes and other predators so their

house and run should be strong and secure. • Chickens need to be able to shelter from the wind, rain and sun.

The space we have chosen for our hen house and run is

A structure’s ‘footprint’ is the total area of ground it takes up. The footprint of our house and run, including the nest boxes, is

The total perimeter of our chicken area is

The total area of our chicken house is

The total area of our chicken run is

Each of our hens has of outdoor space.

The total area of our nest boxes is

This is a house and run for

X

hens.

m

m

m2

m2

m2

m2

m2

Measuring up continued

Describe the area around your chicken house.

Is it clean and tidy or did you notice litter?Is it muddy or is there a path?Are there any trees, buildings or other structures?

What scale will you be using to draw your plan?

Why did you choose this scale?

Did you find anything challenging about measuring your chicken coop and drawing a plan? How did you solve any problems you had?

Use graph paper to draw and label a plan of your chicken house and run.