Egg-cellent lesson teaches St. James Elementary students how to raise chickens

Talk about being cooped up at school. That’s the story for three chickens that have become permanent residents at St. James Elementary School in the Smithtown school district, where educators and the local PTA transformed an outdoor courtyard into a fowl-friendly free-range space. The chickens — all hens — have their own wooden coop and students from different classes in the K-5 school will take turns caring for them. They talked about the new pecking order on Thursday. Credit: Jessica Rotkiewicz