Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
TWO TURKENS hatched in the fourth grade class of Kathy Makela at the Wakefield-Marenisco K-12 school in Wakefield. The class successfully hatched 15 chicks and adopted another that was rejected by its mother. As of Thursday, the class only had three chicks left after the students' families adopted 13 of the chicks.
By IAN MINIELLY
Wakefield - Wakefield-Marenisco fourth grade students started with 32 eggs, donated by Karen Kangas from her hens. The class used an incubator donated by Bob Genisot, Gogebic-Ontonagon Intermediate School District agriculture instructor. According to backyardchickens.com, they only had to wait 21 days for the chicks to cluck forth.
From those 32 eggs, 15 healthy chicks sprouted, and a 16th chick was adopted by the class when Kangas brought it in as an orphan after its mother rejected it.
Kathy Makela said the class is down to three chicks after some of the families of the students adopted chicks and took them to their forever homes.
Makela said the class raised three different variety of chicken, but the most unusual chicks that hatched had a bald spot on the back of their heads and necks where no feathers grew. Makela says these chicks are called Turkens.
Turkens are also called Naked Neck chickens and are resistant to disease, while being both good layers and meat providers, with low maintenance costs.
Makela said her students were surprised at how quick the chickens grew within the week and a half they were in the classroom after coming out of their shells.
