Baby Chicks in the Classroom

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The chicks have hatched! After 22 days in the incubator the big day finally came. We had been worried because the incubator was left open on day 14 as the class went on a field trip to the Zoo. The eggs were left in the cold for more than 6 hours! A quick internet search revealed that chicks can survive several hours without incubation. We candled the eggs but there was not much to see on day 14. Since we had two duck eggs we candled those as well and the little ducks were paddling in their eggs!

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On day 21 we came in on a Sunday to make sure the chicks were doing fine. Nothing was happening. What in the world could we tell the kids? We sang to the chicks (really) and finally we heard a faint chirping. The next day things started to get going. We first saw a small hole.  The eggs started shaking and rolling. We could also hear them chirping in their eggs pretty loudly, but no chicks yet. It is very tempting to help a chick out of the egg at this point. You can see the beak through the pip. Their struggle seems so real. However helping a chick hatch is usually fatal. It really makes you think about struggle in general. Maybe there is more purpose in it than we realize.

It took an additional 24 hours for all of them to hatch and it took all of our restrained not to intervene and help.  Now they are chirping and running around in their nesting box and our yard. We take them into the school garden and let them peck in the dirt and fluff their feathers in the sun. What a treat for the end of the school year!

If you are interested in incubating your own chicks you can find more information right here.

 

 

Day 8 Classroom Incubation Project

If an egg is broken by an outside force, life ends. If an egg is broken by an inside force, life begins. Great things happen from the inside. – Unknown

Today was day 8 of our chicken and duck egg incubation project. You can read about day 1 here and if you are interested in chickens in your classroom you can find basic instructions right here. We turned the lights off and it was time to candle the eggs. It is hard to believe, but right now all of the eggs are developing perfectly. The embryos are clearly visible. The class was incredibly excited. The duck egg has some dirt on it and the class had an interesting discussion about washing the eggs. We will explore the microbial film covering the eggs tomorrow.

Classroom Egg Incubation Project Day 1

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It is time to incubate again! Here are our beauties happily situated in the incubator. This year we have five chicken and 2 duck eggs. We weren’t really counting on ducks. They have a different incubation time than chickens. We will see how it all works out in the end.

We use a fully automated incubator. It turns the eggs and keeps the temperature at a constant 37.5 degrees Celsius.  The kids still turn the eggs by hand once a day. The automated turning is an amazing feature. Without it we would have never attempted this project. Letting the kids hand turn the eggs once a day helps keep them involved. Keep your fingers crossed for some healthy chicks and ducklings!

If you are interested to start your own chicken life cycle project check out our previous post about chickens in the classroom.