Hello all!
I will be the first to admit, hatching chicks isn't on the top of my strengths list; however, I have had quite a few questions and comments about how others can hatching chicks in their own classrooms. Here is some information for everyone :)
*We go through the University of Illinois Extension for our eggs, feed, and new teacher training for our unit. They also coordinate when and where we drop our little friends off at. If you aren't having the best of luck calling the local 4-H, I would check with the state universities. I know many universities have the unit as part of their agricultural extension.
*It is about 21 days for the eggs to hatch. What makes this difficult is that we must pick up the eggs when the Extension Center tells us to. This year our pick up date is tomorrow, March 14. We have our Spring Break the last week of March...the problem- the final week before they start to hatch you need to take the eggs out of the turner and closely monitor the humidity level. Luckily, we have 2 teachers that are willing to go in and do this over break. Every year they seem to change the pick up and drop off dates, so make sure you have all the information!
Resources...
http://urbanext.illinois.edu/eggs/
http://lancaster.unl.edu/4h/embryology/
Good Luck!
Shannon
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I just made a post for those working on life cycles may wish to read. You can link to watch two live webcams. One humminbird nest, which is yet to hatch and one owl's nest which recently hatched.
ReplyDeleteCheryl
Primary Graffiti
Good luck to your chicks! I hope all goes well :-)
ReplyDeleteReadWriteSing
I have done this in the past when I had a childcare home. It is definetly a lesson in life cycle. One year all the chicks hatched to die a couple of days later. :( We had to rush out and buy 2 chicks from Atwoods because I didn't want all those devasted little faces when not even one made it. I hope your unit goes well. I would mention too, that you need to have a plan in store for what to do with the chicks after they have hatched. They cannot stay in the classroom forever. Make sure you have a home or farm lined up for them to go to when they are ready.
ReplyDeleteJenea
www.seedsofnoledge.blogspot.com
Our eggs come next week. I'm excited! I hope we have good luck... I don't handle animal tragedy well.
ReplyDeletewww.mrswillskindergarten.com
I am very excited about our chicks! We will begin incubating next week and they should hatch the following week. The kinders love watching them hatch--okay me too! Last year on the day the chicks were leaving for the farm we had an addition to our classroom and our class incubated a kitten for a few weeks and she stayed until the end of the year. It was wonderful to see how caring and protective my kinders were to her. I am happy to say she is a healthy-SPOILED--cat and lives with me now!
ReplyDeleteBarb
http://www.kinderzoo.net
I have expanded from just chicks to also incubating ducks! I do go a little overboard...but I LOVE watching life happen. I am always amazed no matter how many times we do this!
ReplyDeleteI am also familiar with tending the eggs during Spring Break! The first year we hatched ducks I had not realized the days to incubate were 28 NOT 21 for ducks... I had ducks hatching all through break in my kitchen! My boys loved it, but I definitely READ THE INSTRUCTIONS more closely now!!!! Good luck to you and your little cheepers!