Hatching Day!!!

Our 21 days were up.  Despite having no visable cracks in any of the eggs yesterday, one egg hatched at around 8:30 this morning.  Three more followed suit throughout the day.  What a wonderful process to watch.  Most of the kids (and adults) were absolutely fascinated.

Hatching his way around the egg shell using his "egg tooth" which is a special bump on the chick's beak used to crack the shell.  Once out, the chick will lose it's egg tooth.

When it finally struggles out of it's very cramped quarters, the chick peeps a lot and is very wet.

Keeping it safe and warm in the incubator helps to dry off it's feathers,
but also, by peeping, it apparently encourages the others to continue their struggle out of the egg.

After a few hours in the incubator with the warm, circulating air, the feathers on the small chick dry off and become fluffy.  Then it is ready for it's new home-a small pen with food and water (we use one of the classroom's water tables!)

The students were encouraged to make observations about what was happening and to record their ideas through pictures and words.