More What's Inside Eggs

The next toy I brought, to continue our discovery of eggs, is an egg full of animals.

Some come from eggs some don't.

She loved looking at each of the animals.

There is something about little toys that is attractive.

Our focus was to sort them.

Saying they come from eggs and they don't was difficult for her to differentiate so I started to say which comes from an egg and which comes from their momma.

Chicks Hatching

A week ago Sunday was the due date for our eggs to begin hatching.

We had 42 eggs in our incubator.

And they started hatching right on schedule.

On Sunday nine chicks hatched.

I was able to watch a couple come out.

Monday morning we arrived to fine fifteen more had hatched during the night.

What an exciting sight.

We moved them into a brooding bin under a heat lamp.

After they dried we took turns holding them.

How wonderful to watch the children be very gentle and caring

and oh so curious.

Fourteen eggs remained in the incubator.

Would they hatch?

Later in the morning, Clea the farmer/teacher that gave us the eggs, visited

and improved the brooding bin making it more comfortable.

A couple more eggs began to hatch but they were having difficulties

so Clea 'zippered' them, which means she helped them hatch.

Throughout the week more families visited and had a chance to visit

and get to know the chicks.

Even our big buddies came in for a visit.

We will take them to the farm soon.

Experiencing Birth

During the last two days we have been so fortunate to watch two chicks hatch from their shells.

                      

It has been fascinating to observe and realize how much effort it takes for each chick to hatch.

       

Once their head is out they use their feet to push and push.  Also we watched how the chicks, that have already hatched, respond to the hatching chick. 

       

Sometimes we saw them pecking on the outside the egg as if they were helping.

       

Or they would stay close to offer support, cheeping and cheeping.

       
       

And then when the chick is finally free of the egg they cuddled up beside the newborn.  Was it for warmth and a gentle welcome?

                       

As we watched I started to hear children and adults ask questions.  I recorded them so we can look for some answers.

       

One question I did hear several times from the children was “Why is it taking them so long to come out?”  We tried to explain but I decided that experiencing it may prove more interesting.  So I pulled a box out of the storage room and we pretended it was our egg.

                                    

The children were encouraged to go in and try to break a hole in the side of the box (and no we did not seal them in).

                        

They couldn’t.  They did tire quickly which gave them a glimpse of how the chicks might feel.

                                   

They had a lot of fun being a chick hatching.

                   

 By the end of the morning four chicks had hatched.  There are still 12 more eggs.