Somethings Hatching...

For a school science project, I set 11 eggs that came from a friend's chicken coop. The class and I are doing a unit on "everything grows" and we began with a discussion on eggs and chickens and then set up an incubator. The excitement in the room grew as we moved the little chicken on the calendar closer and closer toward the 21st day (hatching day)....and being so brilliant, I set the eggs so they would hatch during school vacation week! Well at least if nothing hatched I could have run out and picked up 6 chicks from the local farm supply store and said they had come from the eggs!!

Being the good teacher, I gave out my home # for parents to call on the afternoon of the 21st day...today. Yesterday morning I woke to a surprise. One chick decided to come a day early. We have named her Noisey Nora (yes, after the book by Rosemary Wells) since all she does is cheep all day long!

The day began quiet with the exception of Nora! and then my phone was ringing off the hook. I told one family that I'd be home after 1:30 as I needed to take the kids to Kohl's for shorts. I arrived home to find 3 students with moms and siblings in my driveway. They happily came into the room and we were surprised with another newly hatched chick! This one Meri has called Brit.

Two more students arrived to view the hatch lings and marvel that "Ms. Lisa" actually doesn't live at school!

After dinner, one student arrived just in time to witness the birth of the third chick.

You can see the cracked egg (middle front) as the chick was doing its best to hatch.

Libby seemed just as interested in what was going on as my student. She watched the entire time! The chick then pushed and pushed to get the unzipped portion of the egg shell off. After 20 minutes of watching, out came the new baby chick!

My student's little sister thought we should name it "Duck" and Meri liked the name so Duck it is! Although, I thought it looked more like a penguin! Duck spent some time drying off in the incubator before being introduced to the others in the brooder. Then a little attention with the camera and a measurement, and Duck was good to go!

I can't think of a better way to spend the day!