Our ‘Living Eggs’ Experience

First the eggs arrived… On Monday morning, our ten eggs, incubator and brooder box were delivered along with a poster and some manuals. We were all very excited as we were told that the eggs would hatch on Wednesday.

We looked at how a chick forms A fertile egg will hatch after 21 days. This was day 19, so we looked at what stage the chicks were at.

Rules we needed to observe to protect our chicks We had to look after the eggs carefully to make sure the chicks had the best possible start.

The Incubation The eggs were put in the incubator and a humidity tray was put in. We had 2 tasks. The first was to fill the humidity tray up with water every morning, so the shells wouldn’t become too hard, making it difficult for the chicks to hatch. We also had to check that the temperature stayed at approximately 37 degrees Celsius, so the chicks would have the best possible environment.

Pipping On Tuesday afternoon, we could hear the chicks chirping inside their shells. Then when we arrived at school on Wednesday, we noticed that the chicks inside the egg had started to pip. They were using their ‘egg tooth’ to break out through the shell. Anytime now they would hatch.

Hatching During the day on Wednesday, the chicks started to hatch Hatching During the day on Wednesday, the chicks started to hatch. It was really exciting.

One by one, they started to arrive. Finally they arrived One by one, they started to arrive. They looked really worn out when they came out of their shells, but it didn’t take long for them to fluff up. The Science club gave them names.

The brooder box First one hatched, then the others followed. When they were bright-eyed, we moved them into the brooder box. The brooder box had some bedding for them to scratch in. It also had a light for warmth and some food and water.

After the chicks hatched. For the first few days, we just watched the chicks. They didn’t need their water or food immediately, but we had it ready for them, as well as some treats. We were careful not to overfeed them or they would have had tummy aches. When they started looking for food, we gave them a taste of these. toast chick feed little worms water scraps fruit lettuce cress

Our Activities In our study of life cycles, we observed the behaviour of the chicks and did all sorts of investigations e.g. looking at their diet, measuring and weighing.

We had the best time However, the most fun we had was at the beginning of the second week, when we were allowed to hold the chicks.

Off to the farm Finally the day will come for the chicks to leave us and go back to the farm. They will grow up to be hens and cockerels and will get daily treats like little worms. We will be sad to see them go, but we have lots of happy memories and we are really pleased with our project. farm

So until next time ……….