Ms. L’s egg-cellent adventures

What animals would you expect your teachers to have? It’s not a common question, of course. Most do not think twice about what animals their teachers might keep outside of school. The most promising answer one might get is the classic dog, cat, or fish.

Jessica Lichtenwald, a biology teacher at GHS, is different. What started out as a small hobby quickly turned into an impressive flock of not cats, dogs, or goldfish—but 38 chickens.

Initially, Ms. L only had 6 chickens to her family’s name. As the flock expanded, her family converted their utility shed into a chicken coop.

“It could hold up to twenty-five chickens,” Lichtenwald said. “That setup itself is great, and I expanded on it. Not inside, but outside, I have much larger run space.” 

“Runs” are fenced outdoor areas for chickens. They can be covered, which allows for the chickens to go outside of their coops without a risk of escape or predators getting to them.

“I’ve also purchased several smaller coops that are in my yard with their own little runs” Ms L. said regarding the expansive coop space on her property. “Those work great in spring, summer, and fall, but because of how much snow we got this winter, I had to bring the chickens into my garage.” 

Now, there are 38 chickens living in her garage. Most are bantam chickens, which are miniature chickens. The only exception is the notorious “Egg Sheeran,” a feathery full sized doppelganger of the chart topping pop star Ed Sheeran. 

Even though the garage where the chickens are kept is under the house, Ms. L claims that the noise is just part of her daily routine now. “I actually like the sound of it. I’m on the Poultry Committee for the Topsfield Fair, and one of my jobs is to show up at the barn every morning and help clean, and then I come to school. The sound in the barn with all of those roosters and hens can get really loud.”

When one is raising chickens, it’s of course necessary to separate the chickens and the roosters. Ideally, it should be ten hens to one rooster, though Ms. L’s current coop has about fourteen hens to two roosters. She has a connecting door between the two runs, however, which helped the chickens all get used to one another. Now, her two roosters get along well.

“Egg Sheeran lives by himself in the garage. He has his own space,” said Ms. L regarding the rowdy rooster. “Then I have pairs. I have two pairs of Old English Game Bantams, and then I have a trio of bantam black cochin roosters with a bantam black cochin hen and a blue bantam cochin hen. My favorite breed is the modern game bantam—they have really long legs. They look like they’re on stilts.”

When asked about her routine caring for all of these chickens every morning, Ms. L remarked that it was “easier” when there were only six chickens. Making sure all of the chickens had their correct feed was simpler due to their being fewer mouths to feed. Certain vitamins and minerals in excess can be dangerous for chickens—such as calcium, which can be hard on rooster’s kidneys. Her hens can eat oyster shells for calcium, however. 

“If I fill the water at night, my routine in the morning takes about fifteen minutes,” Ms. L said. “But if I’m doing everybody’s water in the morning, my routine will take me over half an hour. And I don’t have that kind of time in the morning, so I make the water is done at night. But I enjoy it. I enjoy the routine. I like spending time with the birds.”

Ms. L’s interest in chickens began due to her being raised on a farm—where, ironically, there were no chickens. However, there were horses, cows, pigs, and turkeys. She also used to show horses with her sister when she was a child. Her journey with chickens specifically started later in life.

“My kids were little, and I took them to the Topsfield Fair. I went into the poultry barn, and I was like…oh my god. This is awesome. I’d never really experienced chickens on that level. I was like, oh my gosh, I want to do this.”

After that, her interest in chickens only ballooned.

“A friend of my daycare provider was at the house with a little cat carrier. She had some chickens that needed taking care of, and I was like, you’re kidding! I’ll take them.”

At that time, there were only five bantam chicks, and Ms. L knew absolutely nothing about chickens. She did her research, fed and raised them, even having the physics class at GHS build them a coop. By that same summer, they had their own coop.

Later on, Ms. L managed to get involved with the Poultry Committee at the Topsfield Fair, which allowed her to start showing her birds. But she doesn’t just show them there.

“I have a show coming up in May in Carver,” she said. “I’m on the show committee for that show—it’s the New England Bantam Club Show. I’m also on something called the Poultry Congress, which is in Springfield every January. That’s a huge show.” 

There are many elements that come with raising chickens that most people wouldn’t think of, and Ms. L has turned a hobby into part of her daily life.

“Once you catch the bug, it’s hard to let go. It’s so much fun.”