Hatching in Classrooms

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Picked up 4 dozen eggs tonight for our classroom hatch. 2 dozen Americaunas, 1 dozen Rhode Island Reds, and a dozen Silkies. It will be really neat for the kids to see how different the eggs can be.
I have read that Bantams hatch earlier that standards, what's everyone else's experience say? Should we expect the Silkies to make their arrival first?
WOW! That's a lot of eggs!

The "official" answer is chickens take 21 days whether large or small. Unofficially, I've noticed the smaller breeds hatching 1st. Not a huge time difference (maybe 15-20 hrs), but always 1st. Once those busy little ones are out, they make such a rumpus, it hurries the others along. They play soccer with the others eggs & even peck at them from the outside to encourage their siblings to come out. It's all normal.
 
48 is a lot of eggs, but they are split between two classrooms. I don't anticipate 100% hatch, I think last year was something like 80%. I'll keep 20 or so myself and I have chicken momma friends anxious for whatever fluff balls I'll send their way :)
 
I found that all of my bantam cochin chicks hatched one day later than the leghorn chicks. A few of my cochins piped at the wrong end and two needed assistance out of the 8. My leghorns had no problems getting out of the shell.
 
The problem I have now is that I have 9 chicks left and they are all living in my second bedroom. Looks like my flock just tripled in size.
Sounds like a fun problem for now!

I like to sell them when young so we don't have to worry about cockerels. We get the number down to our fav 4-12 chicks. Those are the ones we choose from to keep.
 
The problem I have now is that I have 9 chicks left and they are all living in my second bedroom. Looks like my flock just tripled in size.

LOL...that's how it happens and our backyard flock just keeps growing...LOL
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Pretty much every year we find a box on the porch full of classroom chicks that have been abandoned. Of course they are usually cockerels...

People seem to think that if you have some chickens, you can just add some more without any trouble.
 
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