Chickens…From Egg to Life: Projects and Lessons

These are all links to free places on the internet where you can get lesson plans, worksheets, and ideas to go along with incubating and hatching your own eggs.

U of N, Embryology’s Live Egg Cam

Enchanted Learning
A chart showing (cartoony) daily development of the chick inside the egg. Also nice worksheets to label the parts, as well as a glossary of terms.
*Between the ads at the very top of the page, and the title for this page “Egg and Embryo Development”, there are a total of 4 links about chickens on this page.

University of Nebraska’s Site for Embryology
Super nice website put on by Nebraska extension. Egg hatch cams, candling photos and videos, incubation how-to’s, etc. I was really impressed with how nice this was put together.

Embryology
Embryology is a fellow wordpress blog that has the links to 4H Embryology Curriculum workbooks free to download. (These workbooks are no longer available from 4H so this is a great find!)

Science Net Links
Nice lesson plan, with some printables. Seems to be geared toward the younger kids, like PreK-1.

Chicken Life Cycle Teaching Resources
Lots of cool looking ideas to browse through for hatching related school projects, though they all appear to be for a fee of around $7.00.

Chickens…From Egg to Life Part 4: Candling Eggs

I candled the 52 eggs I set last week and wanted to take pictures to show everyone. My camera, however, is AWOL. I’m not even going to bother putting the crappy pictures on here that I took with my phone. Instead I’m posting a link to the Backyard Chickens forum that has an INCREDIBLE thread with amazing day by day pictures of what you’ll be looking for when you candle. (While you’re there, look around. These are some of the nicest, most helpful chicken peeps around.)

Egg Candling Pictures: Progression through Incubation

Egg Candling Picture from BYC, the dark circle in the center is the eye

So the update is, out of the 52 eggs I set, 48 are viable growing chicks. I’m pretty pleased. These are set to hatch for Valentine’s Day.

Also, here is a pretty sweet clip (not mine) of a moving embryo. When I candled eggs the other day my middle son was able to view this and was so excited.

Coming soon will be a post for science activities about incubation and hatching eggs, perfect for homeschool, 4-H, etc.

Chickens…From Egg to Life Part 2: Egg Selection/Storage

Egg Selection

If you have chickens outside, egg selection will be quite simple. Choose eggs from mature hens. (I don’t recommend hatching pullet eggs. It can work, but it doesn’t always.) The hens must have access to a rooster, or vice versa. A good ratio to ensure fertile eggs is 1 rooster to about 7 hens, give or take.  Select the best looking eggs, and the cleanest. Never wash the eggs, as they are porous, and washing can force bacteria inside the egg which will kill the embryo, and possibly cause the egg to explode.

If you don’t have eggs to hatch, you’ll need to buy some. I have bought from many sources. Locally, through Craigslist, BackyardChickens.com, and Ebay. I sort of prefer Ebay. Backyard Chickens is a great site, but some of the eggs are quite expensive. They are typically from enthusiasts specializing in certain breeds. If this is what you’re after, then by all means do it! Ebay sells run of the mill chicken eggs. And the feedback system makes it much safer to purchase from the sellers.

There are many breeds to choose from, its an individual choice. Once you decide what you want, check the seller’s feedback. Steer clear of too many negatives from broken eggs and delayed shipping. I don’t pay much attention to negatives due to low hatches or claims of unfertilized eggs. Make sure the seller does not wash the eggs under any circumstances. If you get some with a little poop, no big deal. Don’t even mess with trying to pick it off, you’ll probably just break the egg.

If your eggs come on time and in one piece, leave the seller positive feedback. That’s what you bid on. It won’t be their fault if your eggs don’t hatch more than likely.

Egg Storage

Once you receive your eggs in the mail, there is an important step to take. Don’t skip it, it will affect your hatch rate considerably. Take the eggs out and carefully put them in an egg carton POINTY SIDE DOWN.

Pointy side down, this is how the egg will go into the carton.

It may take a little practice to tell which end is which, and sometimes there really are rounded eggs that you just have to give it your best guess. Store the eggs like this for 24 hours. The purpose of this is to allow the air sac time to rise back into place at the fullest part of the egg in case it was disturbed during shipping. The air sac doesn’t come into play until really the last 24 hours the chick is in the egg, and it would really stink to get that far only to have the chick suffocate in the shell because the air sac was in the wrong place.

During these 24 hours, keep the eggs in a cool spot, approximately 50-60 degrees. I put them on top of my freezer in my basement.

Eggs waiting to be incubated.

By the way, the eggs can be stored for longer than 24 hours before you begin your hatch. If you choose to wait, simply prop up one end of the carton on one side one day, then switch to the other the next day. Repeat until you’re ready to hatch. This is simply turning the eggs to keep them viable while waiting, replicating mama hen in nature. She lays only one egg per day, for about 2-3 weeks before she actually begins to incubate. After this time period, hatchability declines.

In my next post, I will discuss “setting” the eggs, record keeping, and how long it will take for each phase of incubation. If you have any questions please ask!

Chickens…From Egg to Life Part 1: Preparing/Choosing your Incubator

This was the title of my 6th grade science project. It was about hatching chicken eggs, something I’ve always been fascinated with. I’ve picked this hobby back up the past few years, and have gained a lot of knowledge and experience along the way. Currently I hatch about 200 chicks per year, as well as a dozen or two heritage turkey poults, and a myriad of ducklings and goslings.

Hours old Light Brahma chicks.

I will be finishing up a hatch by Wednesday, and have ordered more eggs to set Friday. I decided now would be a great opportunity to introduce you to the ins and outs of hatching your own poultry, a valuable skill for any homesteader, poultry enthusiast, or home educator.

I will try to be as detailed as possible. We’ll begin with the topics of preparing your incubator, selecting your eggs, and proper egg handling/storage.

Incubator Preparation

If you’re lucky, you have a willing, waiting hen (or other fowl mother) to slide your eggs under.

Mama hen and her foster babes

If not, you’re going to need an incubator. I know styrofoam incubators are cheap. This is one of those instances where you get what you pay for. I tried the styrofoam. They are difficult to clean, for starters. And cleaning between hatches is crucial to subsequent hatching success, due to bacteria. Additionally, the styrofoam bator off the shelf doesn’t come with the necessary fan to circulate heat, and it doesn’t come with the super handy egg turner. These components turn a $40 incubator into a $120 incubator. Not so cheap now… and not very reusable even if you make the additional investments. I personally use and highly recommend Brinsea incubators.

Eggs in Brinsea on lockdown

For about $200, I got this Brinsea eco. It hatches 24 eggs at a time (they offer larger and smaller incubators). It is very easy to clean between hatches. No, they aren’t paying me!! I just love this thing. I know it is pricey, but I have more than made my money back on it through selling chicks, and custom hatching jobs.

So, preparing the incubator, regardless of what you use. I will give instructions mostly for a circulated air type incubator, but if you have questions about still air, ask. I have used them extensively although I don’t like them.

A couple days before you plan to start, or set, your eggs, you need to turn it on and get it warmed up. Getting the temp just right can take a little time. It needs to be as close as possible to 99.5 degrees. I never like to see it at 99 or 100. Try to keep it right in the middle.

Once the temp is set and steady for several hours, go ahead and add some water to it. You can use a hygrometer to measure the humidity. I did until I was quite familiar with the process. Now I just add water as needed based on the ambient temperature and the relative humidity. I do not like excessive humidity. Go a little dry, it won’t hurt things, and may keep them from drowning in their shells.

Okay, this one is getting a little long, I will make a separate entry for egg selection, as that is a whole nother can of worms…please don’t hesitate to ask any questions about incubators!

Writing a Novel in a Month

This morning I have been printing off the free workbooks from the Young Writer’s Program. It is called NaNoWriMo, for National Novel Writing Month.

I discovered them a couple of years ago and it is a ton of fun. The kids are all really looking forward to this, even my 9 yo who thinks a pencil burns his flesh.

The program starts annually on November 1, there is a great online community your older kids can join. (If you don’t make the deadline, nothing says you can’t start this program anytime. Last year we did it in the spring.)

http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/workbooks

There is the link, enjoy!

Ancient China, the Indus Valley

This past week in history we finished learning about the Indus Valley Civilization. As always, I felt like I learned as much, if not more than, the kids.

Wednesday we began our journey into ancient China. Today we covered the geography aspect.

wall map of Asia

We also studied about the Great Wall of China. Fascinating stuff here folks! (No sarcasm, I love history!)

Great Wall of China by Adele Richardson

Looking very forward to next week when we make Chinese food here at home!

Getting Ready for Hallowe’en

So today after school was over I got to work on the kids’ costumes. I don’t have a special sewing room/area, so I use or fold out school/laundry folding table when I have a sewing project to complete. Kind of a pain, but it will have to do until my mansion is completed 🙂

dress in the works

Today I finished Little Red Riding Hood’s dress for my 11 year old daughter. Next to the dress is the red fabric that is the cape-to-be.

Red’s dress

Now to customize the witch costume from a few years ago for the 4 year old.

Witch costume

If I remember right, this one is about a size 7, so I need to take it in a little bit. Then all I have left is a godzilla costume for the 2 year old, and a king’s costume for the…ahem…15 year old! (One of them anyway, his twin brother has decided he is a bit too mature for Trick or Treat this year.)