Educational Chickens?

In August 2008 the David-Louis Memorial School got 24 chickens in, but within the first month 1 died along with another 1 over Iditarod. The school also gave a Rooster to Shirley Clark, but when Miss Laura’s Kindergarden, 1st, and 2nd graders hatched 4 chicken eggs it brought it back up to 25 chickens.
The school bought 1000 lb. of chicken food for $600.00 in April 2009, but by October they were out. They had asked the district to buy the next bag of chicken feed and they agreed, but after that one they are not going to again. So the school will have to provide for them their selves. If the community would contribute scrap food for the chickens then the school wouldn’t have to spend so much money buying food and could start making a profit. Currently the school isn’t making a profit with the chickens, they lay about a dozen eggs a day that could help contribute money for food.
They get to be about 3 or 4 pounds when fully grown, and need a lot of care. They need to be checked daily for food and water, and to make sure its warm and dry in the coop. They also need to check for any sick chickens that can be contagious.
The chickens are also very educational. The students had to build the chicken coop and by helping take care of the chickens the students are learning responsibility, biology, agriculture, community service, and how to run a business.