Nuggets was our first chick to hatch but the next day we had two more hatch and then a few more hatched each day over the next few days. It has been fun to watch the whole hatching process.
The chicks began hatching after sitting in the incubator for 21 days. Their beaks develop with a little piece the protrudes out of the end of the beak. It is called the egg tooth and it is used to help the chick break out of its shell. They use the egg tooth to make the first break in the shell and then they rotate themselves around inside the shell while continuing to use that egg tooth to break more shell.
It can take several hours for them to finally get out of the egg. They usually end up cutting the egg in half and then just popping out.
We check the incubator throughout the day to monitor new egg activity. It is so exciting to see a new crack in an egg. Here is a video of a baby chick coming out of his egg. This was such an amazing experience to watch.
Newly hatched chicks are clumsy but they have the cutest little chirps! And you can often hear the chirps from other chicks that are still inside their egg.
When the chick first comes out of the egg it is wet and needs to be kept warm in the incubator for about a day until it has completely dried out and the feathers have fluffed up.
A newly born chick can go a day or two without food because they have just eaten all of the nutrients inside the egg. But after a day or so, we gave them some medicated chick granules. They contain a medication to prevent coccidiostats which is an internal parasite that chicks can get. We used a Rubbermaid food storage lid as a makeshift chick feeder.
Once they are dry they are just cute little fluff balls and it is ok to handle them.
This chick below is the one Stuart has named Rotisserie but Rachel doesn't like that name. She calls it Cutie.
Here is our first chick, Nuggets, hanging out with his brothers and sisters.
Since we have a rare opportunity to watch baby chicks hatch from eggs, I couldn't let the chance go by and not teach a mini-lesson on chickens!
We created a presentation board with all of the information that we learned. I found a free Egg Hatching and Chick Observation record online and we used a lot of pieces from there to make the board. We learned some basic Chicken Vocabulary.
We saw a graphic of what the baby chick looks like inside the egg.
We learned about the life cycle of chickens.
I found a great informational blog post at Fluffy Bottoms Farm about hatching chickens and used this graphic for Chick Embryo Development.
I love the hypothesis and observation cards. The kids each made their predictions about how many chicks would hatch and how many boys vs. girls we would have. This is going to be fun!
I also found these great Chicken Nomenclature cards at the Montessori Print Shop. I downloaded them, printed and laminated them, and put them on a ring.
The cards highlight the body part they are learning.
This is all that we have done so far but there are a lot of other great resources online for learning about chickens. Here are just a few:
We buy fresh eggs every week from one of Stuart's co-workers who has backyard chickens. Her husband homeschools their children so they appreciate hands-on learning opportunities and she also knows we have been at least a little interested in having our own backyard chickens. So now that she is ready to get a few more chickens, she asked us if we would like to watch them hatch. She said we can give them back or even keep them if we decide we want to.
She gave us 32 eggs and let us borrow her incubator and rocker. The incubator keeps the eggs at 99.5 degrees. The trays in the bottom hold water to keep humidity in the air. The rocker very gently rocks the eggs and slowly turns them. The eggs stay in the rocker for 18 days then we will remove it and allow the chicks to position themselves property for hatching.
The eggs started hatching on the morning of day 21, just as expected. We woke up to this fun sight!!
A little while later, the chick had completed hatched out of his egg but he didn't look much like a chick. He was very wet and very small. He was also very chirpy!
We left him in the incubator until he dried out and his feathers fluffed up. By the end of the day we were able to take him out and hold him for a little while. He still needed to be kept warm so we only took him out for a little while at a time then we put him back in the incubator for a while. Nicholas made a play area for him in a cardboard box!
Here's a video of him checking out his home. Listen to the cute chirps!
Newly hatched chicks don't need food right away because they fill their bellies with their egg's yolk right before they hatch. They can go a day or two before they need food. Stuart was able to bring home some baby chick medicated food crumbles so we were able to get some food to him by the end of the day. Here's a video of him trying out his crumbles...and then walking through it.
The kids just love holding and talking to our baby chick.
I finally had a chance to hold this little fluff ball myself. He is so little and cute!
I can't believe this is the same chick that came out of his egg earlier today looking so wet and scrawny!
Stuart decided that this baby chick would be named Nuggets. When the next chicks are born they will be named Rotisserie and BBQ. Ha ha! Stuart is so gentle with little Nuggets. I think he likes him :)
I think Nuggets likes him too because he fell asleep in his warm hands. Or perhaps he was just worn out from all the attention he got today!
Nicholas has gotten back into hockey and loves it! He plays at the Dr. Pepper Star Center in Farmers Branch.
He has always been fast on the ice but when he was in hockey in the past he wasn't the best at really being competitive and going after the puck. He is older now and more confident and we really see the improvement in how he plays the game.
He goes after the puck even in a clump of other players. And he makes goals now!
Rachel is a great cheerleader on the side. She crinkles her nose when the other team scores.
He has made a friend on his team. She is the only girl on the team. At the beginning of the season she started picking on Nicholas and poking him with her hockey stick. Now they can be seen picking at each other while sitting on the bench.
Oh they are back at it on the bench. Nicholas has gotten good at defending himself and even play fights back with her. He doesn't see this as flirting at all. :)
The team tied this time but we don't really care how the team does. We are just excited to see the improvement that Nicholas has been making in his hockey skills.
Each week, Rachel looks forward to getting together with her American Heritage Girls group. They get to visit with their friends, work on badges together, maybe have a snack, and usually play a game or two to help get the wiggles out. Their newest game is Basket Case.
One of the leaders found it locally but you can also get it at Amazon (affiliate link). The idea is simple. One girl wears the basket headband while another girl throws ping pong balls into the basket. There are a set of white balls and red balls so you can divide up into two teams and have a fun little competition.
The headbands were slightly too big for the girls' heads so they had to hold them on but they had so much fun playing this game!
Note: This post contains an affiliate link which means that if you purchase the item through this link then I will receive a small percentage of the purchase price. This does not affect the price you pay for the product in any way.
