Our Class Blog

Wednesday ~ Day 3

We have 9 chicks!
One hatched after school yesterday, then last night 7 more cracked open! This morning when Trev our Caretaker arrived he found another one on it’s way. By the time we all got into the classroom 9 had been born. Trev had moved the first 8 out of the incubator and into the brooder. The ninth chick needed a bit longer in the incubator to gain it’s strength.

We have learnt that:

Incubators - are where eggs with chicks inside are kept. The temperature is controlled and has to stay around 37 degrees. A container is filled with water which evaporates to keep the air moist. This preevnts the egg shells from becoming too hard. The shells must be soft otherwise the chicks would not be able to push through.

Brooders - are where the chicks are kept once they have hatched and are a bit stronger. The floor of the brooder is covered with newspaper and wood shavings. It has a light at one end to keep the chicks warm and at the opposite end food pelets and water are put out.

Tuesday ~ Day 2

Pipping has begun. This is when the chicks begin to tap their way through the shell of the egg. Even though you can’t see them yet, if you listen carefully you can hear little chirping sounds. It is really funny to watch the eggs inside the incubator wobbling about as the chicks try to break the shell. Eggs 2, 6 and 8 are moving the most. How much longer? Which will be first? We can’t wait!

Newsflash
This afternoon we noticed that eggs 3 and 5 have both got cracks! Just before the end of school number 5 pushed a tiny bit of shell away! Through the hole we can see a beak!!

Newsflash
It is 3.50 pm and 5 minutes ago (3.45pm) our first chick was born. Sadly the children have all gone home but I have taken some photographs and a short film for them to watch tomorrow.
The egg already had a small hole which gradually made a crack around the egg. Suddenly, the chick pushed the shell apart and it fell into two halves. The chick was exhausted and lay really still for a few seconds breathing heavily, then it tried to stand up and fell over! It was really wet to begin with but the warm air inside the incubator is now beginning to dry it’s body.
Miss Dunnell.

Monday ~ Day 1

Eggciting news…
We have had an unusual delivery, of eggs! A man called Simon came into our class today with 10 eggs and 2 strange boxes. One of the boxes he called an incubator and the other, a brooder. He eggsplained to us that it was Year 3’s job to look after the eggs for the next two weeks.
Some of us wondered what might be inside the eggs. Maybe dinosaurs, snakes, chicks, ducklings or perhaps scrambled egg. Then we remembered that Miss Dunnell and Mr Gascoyne had chicks in their classroom’s last year!
Simon said that they may begin to hatch as early as tomorrow afternoon. We have numbered the eggs 1 - 10 and have all bet on which egg we think will be the first to hatch.
Keep checking our blog for all the latest chick news.