When students return for classes in the fall, they’ll see a new addition to our campus facilities – a free-standing chicken coop.

 

Our Livestock Management and Agriculture class collaborated with our Carpentry program to design and custom build a new home for the campus chicken flock, which previously roosted in a smaller indoor barn stall in the Rossetti Education Center.

 

The project was more than a year in the making, with the two CTE programs teamed up last spring to begin the initial planning stages. It turned into the perfect applied learning opportunity for the Carpentry seniors, who began constructing the framing panels in September in their SUNY Morrisville classroom lab.

 

The completed panels were brought to Verona in November, using a trailer generously provided by Clinton Tractor, so students could finish assembling the exterior and roof during the winter. Once completed, Carpentry students helped build nesting boxes and Livestock students assisted with installing insulation, strengthening the partnership between the two classes.

 

Support for the project poured in from across campus as well. Our Maintenance staff helped install the interior lighting and heating system. Heavy Equipment Operation students moved the coop to its permanent location, placing it on a gravel pad they helped build outside the Livestock classroom. Heavy Equipment has already offered to help install fencing around the area this year, and our Foundations of CTE 10 class plans to help repair and restore the surrounding lawn area.

 

For the Livestock class, the chicken coop creates additional learning opportunities and direct hands-on experiences for students to study livestock behavior, care, nutrition, and more, teacher Alyssa Cresswell said.

 

“Now that we have the coop, it opens up our classroom stall to host other livestock animals based on curriculum needs,” she said.

 

 

Carpentry teacher Bruce Herb passed away in May, shortly after this project was completed. Staff and students are planning to install a plaque dedicating this structure to him later this year.