I just wanted to post an update about our chicken egg project. The kids and I are anxiously awaiting the hatching of our 8 chicken eggs. We have them in a Hova-Bator incubator and are now on day 7 of the 21 day incubation period. This project has been FULL of learning so far, as the students are learning about the chicken life cycle, as well as embryo development inside the egg. The project has been fascinating and I have also been learning a lot--way more than I ever intended to know about the successful hatching of chicks in the classroom. One thing is for sure, the students and I discovered that it is way more work than anticipated, as the temperature and humidity inside the incubator must be JUST right and must be carefully monitored. We have all turned into "mother hens" checking the temp every so often, to make sure our babies are safe and sound. Each day, a different student is responsible for being the "Temperature Monitor" (checking the temp every 30 minutes), and another student is the "Egg Turner," who turns the eggs every few hours to ensure even heating. We are collecting and charting all of our data thus far on a timeline in the classroom. Tomorrow will be very exciting, as we will be "candling" the eggs. We will be using a bright light in a dark room to see inside the eggs to observe the development and hopefully see some tiny chick embryos moving inside. Very cool--so sometime tomorrow, all 27 of us will be crammed into a closet somewhere in the school examining chick embryos. Always something new! :) I will be sure to post pictures from the candling soon. Here are a few pictures of our project in progress:
The top of the incubator. Notice the thermometer reads 99.5--the perfect sweet spot!
The whole incubator set up. *Note my paranoid message to the maintenance staff. And the sweet handwritten instructions from the farmer. :)
And here's a cool chart of the development:
Thanks for reading,
Alex
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