1. Our ‘Living Eggs’ Experience

2. First the eggs arrived… On Tuesday morning, our ten eggs, incubator and brooder box were delivered along with a poster and some manuals. We were all very excited as we were told that the eggs would hatch on Wednesday.

3. We looked at how a chick forms A fertile egg will hatch after 21 days. This was day 19, so we looked at what stage the chicks were at.

4. Rules we needed to observe to protect our chicks We had to look after the eggs carefully to make sure the chicks had the best possible start.

5. The Incubation The eggs were put in the incubator and a humidity tray was put in. We had 2 tasks. The first was to fill the humidity tray up with water every morning, so the shells wouldn’t become too hard, making it difficult for the chicks to hatch. We also had to check that the temperature stayed at approximately 37 degrees Celsius, so the chicks would have the best possible environment.

6. Pipping We could hear the chicks chirping inside their shells. Then, we noticed that the chicks inside the egg had started to pip. They were using their ‘egg tooth’ to break out through the shell. Anytime now they would hatch.

7. Hatching During the day on Wednesday, the chicks started to hatch. It was really exciting.

8. Finally they arrived One by one, they started to arrive. They looked really worn out when they came out of their shells, but it didn’t take long for them to fluff up.

9. The brooder box First one hatched, then the others followed. When they were bright-eyed, we moved them into the brooder box. The brooder box had some bedding for them to scratch in. It also had a light for warmth and some food and water.

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44. Off to the farm Finally the day came for the chicks to leave us and go back to the farm. They will grow up to be hens and cockerels and will get daily treats like little worms. We were sad to see them go, but we had lots of happy memories and we were really pleased with ourselves too. We had learnt so much about them and we had given them such a good start. farmhen cockerel worms

45. So until next time ……….