Classroom Hatch project - Day 20... 12/17

[arlee453]

I thought I'd post a new thread to share the news on the classroom hatch project as we go along.... 1 week down, 2 to go! The short background story is that my 2nd grader asked me to do a incubator project with his class. The teacher was thrilled to do it and we started last week.

I ended up setting a total of 29 eggs for the classroom project. 19 at home and 10 in the classroom. The eggs are 14 Barred rocks from Dipsy doodle (Lisa) who was kind enough to send me some when it looked like my first lead was a no-go.

Wouldn't you know it that at the last minute, I ended up getting the original eggs afterall, so I have 15 buff orp eggs as well. I hadn't planned on setting so many, but I couldn't see those great eggs go to waste, and BRs and BOs at that!

Anyway, I set some at school, and some at home hoping I'd get at least SOMETHING for the kids. I'm really nervous about the school bator, since i've not been there to baby sit it...

The home incubator is right at 7 days, so I candled tonight. Of the 19 there are only 3 that are suspect - the rest showed clear development and movement! Lisa, only one of the BR eggs you sent me that is in this bator was suspect - the rest looked great!

I'll go tomorrow and try to candle the eggs in the classroom. I don't know if I'll be able to see much given that the room is probably not going to be dark enough, but at least I know I got SOMETHING developing in at one bator, at least!

I have also put together handouts and little mini-lessons for the kids. Last week, we did parts of the incubator and general Q&A.

Tomorrow when I go, we'll do parts of the egg and chicken and life cycle.

Both incubators are home made out of medium sized rubbermaid/gott coolers.

My threads for my incubators:
1st incubator (home, hand turned)
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=19675

2nd incubator (school model)
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=21547

 

[arlee453]

What fun was that??!!?? I just got back from the school.

It was a bit funny because there was a substitute there today and she didn't know I was coming in. I think she had a bit of the 'this is one crazy chicken lady' look on her face the whole time.

We went over the parts of an egg and chicken and I was able to candle the eggs for the kids a small group at a time. I wasn't sure we'd see much with it being daytime and the room being pretty light, but we got it dark enough in the room to see the baby moving around and the air cell, etc.

Of the 6 eggs I checked, all 6 had movement and development!

It was so cool to see the kids catch the excitement, too. I'm so happy that the school bator is doing the job so far, so good!

I have a series of handouts I'm using with the kids - some I have made myself, and some I got from free online sources. If anyone is interested in them, PM me and I can send you the pdfs.

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Hi Susan!
That's great news!

Happy Holidays & Happy Hatching!
Lisa

 

[links0311]

This is a neat project. I look forward to the next installment.

-Links

 

[LuckysMom]

How cool! Glad all is going well. I used my overhead projector to candle the eggs I had. I put a shallow cardboard box on top of it with an egg shaped cutout to place the egg in. It worked pretty well.
Does your child's teacher have to turn the eggs by hand? What does she do on the weekend?
Tonight my daughter and I were down in my classroom. She was hanging out with me while I did my planning for next week. She reminded me of when we were in my classroom at 11:00 at night because the chicks were hatching. Luckily it's a small school and I had a key to get in so I could go check on the chicks whenever I wanted to!
Good Luck!

 

[arlee453]

I put an egg turner in the incubator in the classroom. I figured the less intervention on the teacher's part and the kids, the better chance of a good hatch.

I bought a LG turner and cut off the last row on either end so it would fit into the cooler. So far so good!

I am planning on bringing home the incubator the last weekend since it will be day 18/19 over the weekend and the turner will need to be removed and the eggs prepared for hatching day.

 

[arlee453]

Back from the most recent trip to check on the eggs at school...

I took two of the silkie babies and one of my big girls (Sparky the dominque) to the classroom with me. The kids were SO excited to see the 'real live' chickens. They got to pet Sparky, who was a very good girl, albeit not as thrilled with going to school as the kids were to see her! The kids were great - last week we went over the parts of a chicken, and they remembered comb, wattles, beak, etc as we found them on Sparky. Then we talked about the needs of a growing chick as compares to needs of a human.

I was able to candle the eggs before the kids got in from recess. Of the 8 in that bator, all 8 looked pretty good!

I'll go back on Friday to pick up the bator to get it set for hatching, and then take it back in probably on Tues so the kids can wait and watch for the babies to arrive.

In the home bator, I took out two more that were not developing, leaving 16 in the home bator, and the 8 at the school.

 

[Poison Ivy]

That's great and keep up the good work! I'd love to see the looks on the kids faces when they start hatching. They won't get any work done that day.

 

[LoneCowboy]

It's a good thing they didn't ask me to do a project like that. Out of 9 eggs, it looks like all 9 are a flop. I only have hope for one of them, and I see no moving at all 2 days to go.

 

[Ga Chicken Mom]

Susan, what a great project for the kids! Imagine how many future chicken owners you are hatching along with the eggs. Please keep us informed.