Which comes first, the chicken or the nugget?

By ANDREW MCGINN
a.mcginn@beeherald.com

For a moment last school year, the Animal Science class at Greene County High School toyed with the idea of raising rabbits that could be sold as pets.

Instructor Katie Akers didn’t like the idea of someone possibly mistreating one of the bunnies once it departed their facility.

So they settled on chickens — which will all be killed and eaten instead.

Still, “Then we don’t have to worry about them being mistreated,” Akers said recently.

Saturday is the day of reckoning for close to 70 broiler chickens raised by the class, the first time in years that the high school has raised poultry and the first time students have used a new animal science lab behind the school.

The new lab is actually the high school’s old greenhouse, renovated by the natural resources class and industrial tech teacher Michael Schnoes to house small livestock after the school received a $10,000 grant from Monsanto to build a new greenhouse.

The lab opens new possibilities for high school ag students, from the possible production of eggs to enabling conservation students to incubate pheasant hatchlings.

Their newest business venture is off to a good start — more than 50 of their chickens are already spoken for by members of the community, Akers said.

The students have spent the past eight weeks caring for their chickens, nurturing them from little yellow fluffballs to maturity, which is about six pounds.

“The worst part is cleaning out the pen,” said Nic Killion, a senior.

The chickens are expected to be taken Saturday to a processing facility in Missouri Valley, according to Akers, where it will take all of about 60 minutes to process all 65 birds.

In order to be able to sell the meat, Akers said, they have to send the birds to a processing facility — which is just fine by her.

“Mrs. Akers said no,” she said when asked if they considered butchering the chickens themselves.

“We already filet our own tilapia,” she added.

The high school’s Aquaculture class has raised tilapia for more than 20 years inside a separate lab.

This year, however, tragedy struck their fish farm when a power outage during Christmas break stopped the motor on an oxygen pump, Akers said, killing all 200 tilapia.

Akers turned it into a teachable moment.

“Sometimes,” she said, “agriculture doesn’t go the way you plan.”

The young chicken farmers, on the other hand, have been caring for their fowl daily, even on weekends and over spring break. Students have taken turns feeding and watering the birds when school isn’t in session.

“I’m really proud of the kids,” Akers said. “They have really stepped up.”

The remodeled greenhouse is climate controlled, and the students created an enclosed watering system using five-gallon buckets fitted with nipples the chickens peck at, ensuring the water never gets dirty.

The class hopes only to break even on their venture. The class bought 70 broiler chicks with money from the high school FFA chapter. Bomgaars donated the first 10 bags of feed, Akers said.

The chicks arrived via regular mail on Valentine’s Day.

“It was our gift to ourselves,” Akers joked.

Inside the box was a 71st chick they didn’t order — the stowaway turned out to be a Silkie, a breed known for its fluffy plumage. The Silkie will escape the knife Saturday, in part because Americans aren’t accustomed to its meat, which is bluish-black in color. And, unfortunately, Greene County is home to few Cambodians.

Sophomore Izzy Bravard said she’s thinking about showing the Silkie at the county fair this summer.

But even if her students never again encounter a chicken outside of a chicken sandwich, Akers hopes they’ve gained an appreciation for where their food comes from.

“We’re so used to going to the grocery store. We just pick up supper,” she said. “American agriculture is taken for granted way too often.”