Days 1 and 2 of Chicken Hatch Project

Day Two of the Chicken Hatching Project:
It's Saturday, Feb. 12 and today is Day 2 of the project.  The incubator has been live for several hours and all eggs are resting nicely.  There are a total of 24 eggs.  Several have been named.  There are several different breeds of chickens included in the 24.  In the incubator we have Black Australorps, Black Americaunas, Buff Orpingtons, Blue Copper Marans, Blue Laced Red Wyandottes and a couple "mutts".  We also have one olive green egg that I'm not sure what breed it came from.  I'm excited to see what will hatch from it because it is such an unusual egg.

Plans for Monday with the students:  (1) Finish naming the eggs (2) Make our charts (3) Check out the "Chicken Whisperer" Podcast and (4) Watch the webcam.

Here are some pictures from the setting up of the incubator yesterday.

The eggs arrived wrapped in bubble wrap.  They were purchased from BlueWater Ranch in Texas.

Lacie stored the eggs for several hours after unwrapping them in Mr. Chappell's Keurig coffee pod stand.  The eggs are supposed to be stored with the big end up to allow the air sac to resettle after shipment.

All the eggs have been numbered and marked with "X" and "O" to aid in keeping track of rotations in the incubator and to track hatching.

The incubator all set up and ready for the webcam!  

I hope to start candling the eggs on day 3-8 to see if any chicken embryos are developing in the lighter shelled eggs.  The Marans' eggs may not be so easily candled.  Just noticed my webcam has a photo button on it in order to capture still pictures.  This might come in handy!