The kids are back at school, and no one is more pleased to see them at Investigator College than The Big Kahuna – a Buff Orpington chicken that struts the Victor Harbor campus pen.

The Gallus gallus domesticus was bred down the line from a Golden Spangled Hamburg crossed with Buff Cochin 138 years ago.

Lachie, a reception student, actually named him Rainbow Lollypop in the class ‘Name this Chook' competition, but given the imposing stature of this rooster, the older kids thought he needed a more authoritative title to match his persona.

Having 25 or more chooks penned at school in this high-tech world may seem strange, but the program is part of the agricultural, horticultural, aquaculture and environmental studies offered through to Year 12.

The students love the chickens, especially when it comes to creating their own fascinating studies.  

One such study compared a chicken’s growth in a regular pen with another surrounded by mirrors and toys to play with.

Nat Gilbert is co-ordinator of Investigator's sustainable futures program and an agriculture, horticulture and eco-studies teacher at both the Victior Harbor campus and the impressive Currency Creek Eco-Centre.

According to Nat, the students didn't find that the chickens grew any bigger, but the one with the entertainment was far more active and flew out of the cages earlier.

“The behaviour of this one was so much more stimulated,” she says.

“It may have an economic value in terms of people wanting to buy eggs from a supplier with chickens that are happier rather than those standing bored in a cage.”

Of course, the chooks might have also reacted positively if they saw the latest Chicken Run movie, but as Nat explained this was also about being creative with scientific studies.

“Students learn a whole range from the chickens, starting from Early Learning and Reception years in terms of handling and caring for them.

“Students write scientific reports on totally ethical experiments. They will design and test something and that might be the Year 11s who have a class debate and vote on what we want to test.

“Some of the tests have been mind-blowing, like comparing the effect on adding protein in chickens’ diets – but not too much which may have hurt them.

“They found out that protein will make a chicken grow bigger, but in warm temperatures that is less likely to happen because they excrete the nitrogen rather than using it to grow.

“Students have come up with ideas like comparing results from chickens in different coloured cages.

“As teachers we thought, hey, it's a cage and why would that make a difference? But the studies proved us wrong. Orange actually stimulates their appetite whereas grey cages curb it, so the chickens grown in an orange container grew bigger within the five weeks that we tested them.

“The test didn't hurt the chickens, and the same study will extend to see whether they eat more as well, which can create an economic consequence relating to the cost per egg.”

Zoes James, 10, nursing The Big Kahuna 

Students also compared feeds with 20 per cent protein in them, one a plant-based protein and the other animal-based. They concluded that although chickens were actually omnivores and amino acids were an important element in their growth, those eating the animal-based protein showed a huge difference, growing a third bigger than the vegetarian chickens.

The program has led to students placing their half-eaten sandwiches that their parents worked so hard to make that morning into special green bins to give the chooks variety in their feed.

This saves landfill, teaches kids not to throw plastics in green bins because the chooks might eat them, and the scraps go towards producing eggs that can be sold. Just don't tell the parents about the half-eaten lunches.

From younger students using their imagination as they draw on egg carton labels to studying adjacent lambs and calves in pens and barramundi bred in aquaponic systems, it is no surprise this elective is so popular.

There are hundreds of chicken breeds around the world, including 60 on the Australian Poultry Standard list.

But none seem more imposing than The Big Kahuna in the food scrapyard in downtown Victor, who is happy to see the kids back at school.

Words & Photos: Ashley Porter