Going Home?

We had planned to take our flock to their new home at the Triple H farm this week as a class. Sadly, we have had to cancel our field trip because of flooding problems on their farm. Our flock will still go there, we're just not going to be able to take them together. RATS! I do have pictures of the farm, so the kids can see what the farm looks like.
These birda are ready to go. The ducks are growing right before our eyes and getting too big for their box. The chick and poult are flying in and out of their box too. This picture was taken last week as they stretched their legs and checked out the kindergarten room (as they often do after school).

Duckling Day

Last Wednesday we took the ducklings out and observed their body structures. We noticed small changes in their growth this week (like the beginnings of tail feathers), but mostly noticed some parts we didn't see before: the spur or "back toe" on their heels, the pink skin under their wings, and their nostrils! These kindergarteners are becoming careful observers of nature! We made drawings of them which we labeled. We turned these drawings into a book and sent the book along with the ducklings on a field trip to our friends at Russell Elementary school for the day on Thursday. We missed them, but know that we will see them again when they return next week!

Growing Up

We have been so lucky to have witnessed the birth of an animal and care for it through its first weeks of life. Charlie the chick is now 16 days old, and Pika the (turkey) poult is 11 days old. It is amazing how much they have changed in such a short time! Today we observed closely the body structures of both of these birds. We noticed their combs growing on their heads, their new wing and tail feathers, and their size. We observed closely and recorded what we saw by drawing our little friends. They also tried worms for the first time-yum!

Ducklings are here!

We have officially finished incubating eggs. However, there are other ways to aquire ducklings so there are now 2 sweet, little, fuzzy, yellow ducklings in our classroom. We prepared the space for them this morning and have provided the basics, but we will be consulting with some Kindergarten experts at Russell Elementary school in Mrs. Vaneps's class about pond habitats so that we can make a better home for them!

We had a very interesting discussion about how these ducklings are like our chick and how they are different. We also began to talk about why they have those differences. It led us to finally discover what the mystery bird is...a turkey!

Ducklings...where are you?

Our duck eggs are over-due. 4 days over-due. I am surprised because our brand new incubator kept perfect temperature and we kept the water reservoir filled. The turner worked properly and our mystery egg hatched inside this incubator. So, we needed to investigate. The small, digital incubator came with a scope to "candle" the eggs. Usually, you candle an egg early in it's development to see if the egg was fertilized, growing appropriately, etc. Our scope does the same thing without having to remove the egg from the incubator. I used this website to help us determine what stage our eggs were in. After looking at each egg, four of our eggs looked to be at 25 or more days and ready to hatch. So it remains a new mystery why our duck eggs have not hatched. I am worried that they never will.

Check out this interesting candling page-great pictures! (You may need to paste this address into your browser to use the link)

http://www.metzerfarms.com/Candling.cfm

Cutest Little Guy EVER!

I can't wait for the class to meet the newest chick. It is just about the sweetest little thing. It just wants to be held all the time and cries out when I put it in the box. It is very interested in the mirror and wants so badly to interact with the other bird!

Check out how perfectly this bird hatched. They "unzip" themselves around the larger "round" end of the egg where there head develops. Their legs develop in the pointy end.

The Mystery Egg Hatched!!!

Right before lunch on Thursday, some students noticed a small crack in our mystery egg. We immediately removed the egg turner (the egg wasn't due to hatch for another 3 days). I moved the egg to the smaller incubator with the great window and we watched it wiggle as it tried to hatch. Some of us could even hear some "peeping" from inside the egg. Hatching takes many hours and it hadn't made much progress before the kids went home. I returned at 9:15 before bed and still not much progress had been made.
But when I returned this morning, I found this little wet chick! It looks like it hatched around 6:00 this morning!

This little chick is so alert and LOUD! But hatching is hard work and it has been sleeping a lot today! Later today when it is dry and fluffy, we will transfer it to Charlie's box.

Now to figure out WHAT this chick is! Can't wait for the Kindergarteners to return on Monday to help solve the mystery!

Hello Charlie!

We have named our little black chick. The students chose the name "Charlie". They said it could be for a boy or a girl (since it's to early to tell what gender the chick is). They were inspired by a book we read called "The Adventure of Charlie the Chick" about a chick who hatches and goes in search of his brothers and sisters only to find other animals hatching from eggs. The book reminded us of our chick who has yet to meet it's siblings. Sadly, since it has been two days past the due date, we are not expecting the remaining two eggs to hatch. We'll give it a few more days before we turn off the incubator just in case!

Meet the Class

Excitement was in the air this morning as the class met our newest edition. Because the kids missed the big event, I showed them some pictures from our chick's hatching day and we watched some video of other chicks hatching. It was probably the quietest day of kindergarten as the kids wanted to let the chick sleep and they wanted to hear the soft "peeping" from inside the box!

Shortly after meeting our new chick, we headed outdoors for a drippy recess. Most people wouldn't enjoy a soggy recess, but for us, it was a big worm party! What fun to see the kids apply their new worm knowledge as they identified different kinds of worms and found all their body parts.

Mother's Day Surprise!

With the eggs due to hatch Sunday/Monday, I thought that I had better check in one last time before bedtime on Sunday. Sure enough, a chick had hatched sometime during the day! Chicks need to stay in the warm incubator until its downy feathers are completely dry and then it can be moved into a brooder box. This chick was already dry and fluffy. It was moving around quite a bit so I could tell it was ready to come out of the incubator. I set up the brooder box with a warmer light before leaving. I can't wait to see the kids' faces in the morning!!!

It was the light brown egg that our black chick hatched from:

Special Visitors

As part of our Garden Guest Speaker program this spring, we had the opportunity to learn a little more about the animals we will be caring for in the coming weeks. The Missoula Urban Development project (MUD) brought a chicken to visit our students while we talked about "sustainability" and growing your own food.

We learned about chickens needing a coop to live in, that roosters are NOT allowed in city limits, and that there are chickens that live in backyards all over Missoula! We got to pet and feed the hen they brought and check out her cool little chicken "stroller"!

Redworms and Night Crawlers

While we wait for our eggs to hatch, we have started learning about some other organisms. We have been observing the body structures and life cycles of both redworms and night crawlers, both of which are very popular in Kindergarten! Students are encouraged to gently feel and watch how they move and discover ways to change their "behavior".

Progress

We are about a week away from hatching day! Our chicks are due to hatch next Monday (right after Mother's Day!) and we are wondering, what is going on in there? We have been looking at some non-fiction books and charts to help us know what is happening inside the eggs. Early in the baby's development, you can candle the egg to see the shadows of what is developing inside. We did not candle our eggs. I thought it best to keep our eggs undisturbed in the incubators which are doing a fantastic job-we have high hopes for a good hatch!