Have you heard the chirping throughout the school the past couple days? Take a stroll by Mrs. Tallon’s room and you will. The eggs have hatched! Mrs. Tallon’s science classes have been in the process of hatching baby chickens over the past month. They checked on the eggs each day by making sure the temperature and humidity levels in the incubator were stable. The classes also got to candle the eggs every few days. Candling is the process of holding a source of light, like a flashlight, up to an egg in order to see its contents and measure the baby chick’s progress. Unfortunately, some of the eggs were green or brown, depending on the kind of chicken they came from, so those were much harder to see into. In addition to these steps, they also kept track of the eggs’ mass over the incubation period. Some students were very surprised and worried when they noticed that the eggs were weighing less and less with each weighing. As it turns out, this is completely normal and meant that the chicks were developing properly.
Unfortunately, there were two eggs that were damaged throughout the process, and one did not survive. Despite this loss, it was an overall good hatching. There were 21 eggs that hatched, altogether, out of the 27. Of these 21, there were three or four different kinds of chicks hatched. The few that did not hatch were labeled as “quitters”, and the class performed egg-topsies to determine what may have caused issues with development and approximately what day development of the chick stopped.
The first egg to hatch, number 24, gave a lot of encouragement to the others. It hatched on Monday, May 11, during seventh hour. By first hour the next day, the incubator was full of fluffy little baby chicks. The chicks are now settled into a confined area by Mrs. Tallon’s desk where they are running around and chirping like crazy. If you have not gotten a chance to see them, stop by her room before the end of the year. It is definitely a sight to see.
Thank you to Mrs. Smallwood who brought in the eggs for the science classes to use and for taking the baby chicks under her wing when they leave the high school.
Unfortunately, there were two eggs that were damaged throughout the process, and one did not survive. Despite this loss, it was an overall good hatching. There were 21 eggs that hatched, altogether, out of the 27. Of these 21, there were three or four different kinds of chicks hatched. The few that did not hatch were labeled as “quitters”, and the class performed egg-topsies to determine what may have caused issues with development and approximately what day development of the chick stopped.
The first egg to hatch, number 24, gave a lot of encouragement to the others. It hatched on Monday, May 11, during seventh hour. By first hour the next day, the incubator was full of fluffy little baby chicks. The chicks are now settled into a confined area by Mrs. Tallon’s desk where they are running around and chirping like crazy. If you have not gotten a chance to see them, stop by her room before the end of the year. It is definitely a sight to see.
Thank you to Mrs. Smallwood who brought in the eggs for the science classes to use and for taking the baby chicks under her wing when they leave the high school.