- Haynes Lower School
- Foresters Close, Haynes
- Bedford MK45 3PR
- 01234381225
- office@hayneslowerschool.co.uk
Our Living Eggs
Sunday 20th March - Chick Photoshoot
The chicks have had a great little holiday this weekend at Miss Rowswell's house. They have spent most of their time playing, sleeping and eating but they managed to find time for a little 'Easter' themed photoshoot. Some of the chicks are very photogenic and spent a lot of time posing, whereas others were a little bit shy. We think they all look great in their photos and can't wait for the children to how big they have grown!
Lucky is getting stronger and stronger. Her bent toe isn't as noticeable anymore and she is turning into a very bossy little chick with her brothers and sisters, so I don't think she is going to have any problems being the smallest chick!
Saturday 19th March - Everyone Meet Lucky
Today, Miss Rowswell went back to school to see how the poorly chick was getting on in the incubator. When she arrived at school, Miss Rowswell was very happy to see that the chick was up on its feet and walking around much better. The chick was also making a lot of noise which showed that she was a lot stronger and was feeling better. The chick was a dark brown which means she is a girl, so Miss Rowswell decided to call her Lucky!
Lucky was very sticky from her difficult hatching so Miss Rowswell and Mrs Jones gave her a little bath in some warm water... Lucky didn't enjoy this and made a lot of noise! But she will feel a lot better now she is cleaner. We also discovered that Lucky has a poorly foot with a toe that bends the wrong way. This is probably why she found it so difficult to stand up when she first hatched. She spent the rest of the day drying off in the incubator and then, in the evening, Miss Rowswell took her home to meet her siblings!
Lucky has loved getting to know everyone and is proving to be a very resilient little chick! Her bent toe is slowly getting stronger and she is now able to walk (and run) nearly as well as the others. Well done Lucky!
Friday 18th March - One Lucky Chick!
At the end of school today, Miss Rowswell made a very exciting discovery! As she went to collect the chicks in the brooder, to take them home for the weekend, she heard a cheeping sound coming from one of the eggs still in the incubator. These two eggs had shown little sign that the chicks inside were going to hatch and we knew that there was a strong possibility that these chicks were not going to come out. We were told that all of the chicks should hatch by Wednesday or Thursday and if they hadn't hatched by Friday, they were not going to hatch. All of the children felt sad that the two chicks were not going to come out of their eggs but they understood that this is a natural thing. However, one little chick had other ideas and was not about to be left behind! Miss Rowswell was very surprised to hear cheeping coming from one of the eggs and quickly ran to tell Mrs Jones. Together, they carefully helped the chick come out of the egg and placed it into the incubator. It didn't look very well and struggled to stand up, unlike the other chicks who were on their feet in seconds! We aren't sure if she is going to make it through the night but we have every finger and toe crossed that she does. So far, this is one lucky chick!
Thursday 17th March - Science Day
Today was Science Day, the children spent the day taking part in lots of different Science activities around the school. One of the activities was to learn about the life cycle of a chicken. We talked about where the eggs came from, how they are incubated, what happens inside the egg and what happens after they hatch. We compared a chicken's life cycle to a human's and found lots of similarities and differences. At the end of the session, each group named two chickens. Every child put forward their ideas and then the group voted on their favourite two. We had lots of weird and wonderful names put forward but we have settled on the following 8 names: Gerald, Devlyn, Izzy, Rocky, Nugget, Fluffy, Coco and Bluey. We were all very excited to finally get a chance to hold our two oldest chicks (Gerald and Devlyn). They were so soft! All the children were so careful and gently with the chicks and are looking forward to holding them lots more next week.
Wednesday 16th March - We Have Chicks!
This morning, when the teachers came to school, there were two tiny chicks sat in the incubator amongst the eggs. They must have hatched in the night and were still a little wet from the hatching. We think that they are two boys as they are very yellow (the boys are yellow and the girls are brown). Later in the day, Miss Rowswell had a quick look at the eggs around 3pm and noticed that there was a big crack in one of the eggs. The children and teachers rushed into the library to watch a third chick hatch. No-one could believe that the chick had fit inside the tiny egg, it must have been very tight in there! We were so lucky to watch one of our chicks hatch. How exciting!
Miss Rowswell and Mrs Jones put a little red dot on one of the boys, a blue dot on the other boy and a purple dot on the new little girl chick so we can tell them apart. The chicks must stay in the incubator for at least 24 hours so it is important to know which ones were born when so we can work out when it is time to move them into the brooder. I wonder how many chicks we will have by tomorrow morning!
Tuesday 15th March - Still Waiting
The children all came in today so excited to see if anything had happened with the eggs. No changes so far, but we had so much fun talking about the different stages of growth within the eggs and what the chicks might be dreaming about whilst they are waiting to hatch.
Monday 14th March - The Eggs Have Arrived!
The day is finally here, our living eggs have arrived! Mrs Hearn and Miss Rowswell have carefully set up all 10 eggs in their incubator, where they will remain until they hatch. Each egg will need to stay in the incubator at a temperature of 37.7 degrees to ensure that they stay warm and moist. It takes 21 days for a chick to hatch and our eggs are currently on day 19. This means that we will be expecting them to hatch on Wednesday, which will be day 21. The whole school will be watching closely to see when the "pipping" starts. Pipping is when the chick begins to peck its way out of the egg using the 'egg tooth' on the end of its beak. We are all so excited for this to start, not long to go!
