Has anyone ever done "windowing" with their eggs?

[Smartie_Pants]

I am in a small animal science class at my highschool and when we switched to second semester today the teacher was going over what we would be doing. She said we would be hatching eggs, among other things. She talked about how we would do it.

She said that with about 6 of the eggs they do "windowing." That means they chip off a piece of the shell (about a quarter sized piece) and replace it with plastic "so you can watch the chick grow."

Then she looks kind of funny and says, "but for some reason none of them hatched. I don't know what happened."

This cannot be good! No wonder none hatched! And she is supposed to be the FFA co-leader at our school! Am I totally wrong? Because she acted like it was normal to do this, and the whole time I was telling her off in my head.

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

Well, I wonder why they dont hatch

 

[BirdBoy88]

how would you even be able to turn the egg with out the yolk running out

i am with you i mean come on DUH! hello! no wonder they are not hatching...

i have only seen this done for experiments taking pics of different stages of growth but they then throw away the chick embryo because it's no way for it to live once the shell has been open..maybe i am wrong?

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

Quote:
I dont like that either. Where the teachers incubate eggs, and then bust the chicks out early to show the kids the developtment, then just toss the chicks. Its sick.

 

[Smartie_Pants]

I was setting there debating weather or not I was going to raise my hand and tell her why they didn't hatch, but I didn't want to get off to a bad start. They also "dye" some of the chicks which I despise.

 

[Fresh Eggs]

That is RIDICULOUS!! It is called CANDLING.

 

[Smartie_Pants]

Luckily we aren't going to get to the hatching for months. Maybe I could talk to her and tell her why its a bad idea? I mean, I would rather have the chicks hatch and not do windowing, than do windowing and have them die.

 

[Akane]

Scientists have done that a lot but with special setups and not just plain plastic. Was she planning to turn the eggs? It could be done if you sealed around the plastic well and put it on the side so when you turn them the plastic would just be on the other side. I think this came up in another thread though where everyone agreed there were too many other issues like bacteria contamination, moisture loss or lack of moisture loss depending how it's done, and difficulties with the chick positioning for hatching. I could see the problem with having a class candle though. Odds are some eggs will get broken.

 

[Fudgie]

IMHO, there is so much information on the internet to help support showing the kids where the chicks are in the development stage without going to those extremes to kill the embryo.........teach them to search the internet and find this information then discuss it. Most teachers have what they call a "Smart board" that mimics the laptop or desktop in their room. Get with the 21st century people!!!

 

[shelleyd2008]

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You should send her here to ask questions on how to do stuff like that!!