I feel that I have to start by apologizing for not posting in a while. The first year I wrote the blog I did a post every day. I haven't been able to keep up that pace since then. Anyway..........a LOT has been going on in my classroom that I'd like to share.
You may remember that we have been studying birds for several weeks. We are just ending our study and I have been so pleased and amazed with what the children have learned. In fact, there are a few more bird-related posts in the works about that.
Today I wanted to share that we have been incubating chicken eggs in our classroom for the past 20 days. Hopefully within the next day or so we will have hatched chicks...........they take 21 days to hatch. We have 2 incubators........one is big......it's in my office and has 17 eggs in it. It could hold many more than that. You can see that one pictured below. We are borrowing this incubator from my assistant, Melissa.
The other incubator holds three eggs and was donated to our classroom by one of our families.
I used some money from a recent fundraiser to purchase this Chick Life Cycle Exploration Kit. You can buy one just like this one HERE. It is very cool. Inside the storage box are 21 plastic eggs. Inside each egg is a drawing which depicts the chick embryo's state of development on that particular day.
Here you can see what the box looks like when you open it.
Each day during our first line time we open the eggs for that day and see what our chick embryos look like. The children have loved seeing how the chicks are developing inside their eggs. This set was a great investment. I highly recommend it if you hatch chicks on a regular basis.
I will post with photos as soon as we have baby chicks. In the meantime I'm saying lots of prayers and crossing my fingers so that we have something to "crow" about. I have sweated out two recent thunderstorms, worrying that the power would go out. Luckily we have almost made it to Day 21 with no power failures.
Great! Glad it helped.
To: directress@live.com
Posted by: Laura | September 28, 2010 at 04:58 PM
THANKS SO MUCH LAURA, WILL CHECK OUT THIS WEB SITE YOU GAVE ME. HAVE A BLESSED DAY.
EMMA H.
Posted by: EMMA HARDENBROOK | September 28, 2010 at 03:43 PM
Hi, Emma. I have not had any experience with hatching the way you have described. However, I am sure you could find an answer to your question in the forum section ofthe Backyard Chickens website. There is all the information you could ever want to know about chickens there. The web address is: www.backyardchickens.com Good luck!
Laura
To: directress@live.com
Posted by: Laura | September 25, 2010 at 09:18 PM
years ago i hatched out some baby chicks in a Styrofoam cooler. i put a 15 or 25 watt bub in it and hung a wet wash cloth over the side for humidify.does anyone have any further information on this old fashion type of hatching. i was going to try this again for my 9 year old grandson.thought it would be quiet an interesting experience for him. thanks
Emma H.
Posted by: EMMA HARDENBROOK | September 25, 2010 at 02:37 PM
Hatching baby ducks soundsso fun! I hope you have good success. So far we have had 9 out of 20 eggs hatch, with another two on the way. I am hoping to get a postup soon about our hatchlings!
Take care and thanks for writing!
Laura
To: directress@live.com
Posted by: Laura | May 08, 2010 at 02:57 PM
we're doing this in my class but with duck eggs and we are soooo worried, because the lady we got the eggs from called this past week saying NONE of the other eggs have hatched. i mean we've talked to the kids about the possibility that they won't hatch but still that would be sooo sad! Good Luck with your eggs.
Posted by: Jessica | May 08, 2010 at 01:07 PM
Alycia,
Thanks for your comment. I just got back from settling our first hatchling into his temporary home (in my office at school)........and Imtotally kicking myself for forgetting my camera! UGH!
Laura
To: directress@live.com
Posted by: Laura | May 05, 2010 at 06:58 PM
One of the classrooms in the 6th grade just had their chicks hatch. The kids were estatic. The teacher also uses the box of eggs. We donate our chicks to a local farm once hatched.
Posted by: Alycia in Virginia | May 05, 2010 at 05:57 PM
Melinda,
Thanks for your comment. We got chicks last summer too. They are so much fun. I am crossing my fingers that we will get at least 1 hatched chick from our school batch.
Take care,
Laura
To: directress@live.com
Posted by: Laura | May 04, 2010 at 04:22 PM
Love your posts! I am a homeschooling mom and get so many great ideas for my family from your blog. About chicks. . we bought 10 already hatched last Easter (2009) and now have 6 laying hens (1 chick died -- get ready for that, 1 was a rooster -- had to get rid of him before the neighbors complained and 2 gave away to friends.) They will be ready to eat after 48 hours and will poop like crazy. . our 10 (9 after the death which happened the first day we brought them home from the feed store)made such a mess in the rubbermaid tub they were in (with the waterer and feeder)that I was changing the wood chips (like you buy for hamsters) every day! What a job -- by 6 weeks they were flying everywhere (with accompanying poop) so we moved them to the coop my husband had finished building.
They were a great experience for my kids and great discipline for me and still are. .
Good Luck!
Posted by: Melinda Loustalot | May 04, 2010 at 08:20 AM
I bought my life cycle kit at a local school supply store. You could also get it at the link included in the post. I am lucky that one of my assistants is planning to take the chicks once theyre hatched. If you are planning to hatch chicks you will need fertilized eggs....perhaps the person who gets you the eggs would take the chicks once they are hatched. Just an idea.....
Take care,
Laura
To: directress@live.com
Posted by: Laura | May 03, 2010 at 10:23 PM
Where did you get your chics (and the kit)? Also, what do you do with the chics once they hatch? I've always wanted to hatch chicks but I still have concerns.
Posted by: PS Montessori | May 03, 2010 at 07:51 PM