In addition to the yellow daffodils heralding Spring from the school grounds and the containers outside the Science lab, this year, Spring blossomed (hatched) inside.
We received 10 eggs from Living Hatching Eggs and all the equipment required to incubate and brood the eggs, for a period of 2 weeks.
The eggs arrived on Monday 26th February and by Wednesday excitement was rising as we could hear the first cheeps from inside them. On Thursday morning the first chick had emerged and quickly the word spread, resulting in a steady stream of students (and staff) who came in to observe or predict which egg would be next.
Thursday proved to be a very busy day both in terms of visitors, but also in terms of the egg activity, as first one and then another and another and . . . . . .started to hatch.
The incubator was certainly providing interesting and compelling science lessons!
By the end of the day, we had six Spring chicks, whose arrival on 1st March coincided with the meteorological first day of Spring.
This first set of chicks were transferred to their brood box that evening and by Friday they were sufficiently robust for the first gentle cuddles. Just like very small children, the chicks would walk and eat and then just collapse and sleep, all tumbling in a heap, before starting their adventures together again.
There was another addition on Saturday morning, and this little one had fought really hard to escape the confines of her shell, after we had heard her cheeping from 12 o’clock on Friday. The last three never hatched, but the company suggested that we had exceeded the normal hatch rate of some 30% in more natural circumstances. During the second week, all students were really engaged in the progress of the chicks and engrossed in watching their antics and the development of their first feathers. For some students they also enjoyed the opportunity to handle and hold these delicate bundles of fluff and it was lovely to see them being calm, kind and gentle. Many were very sad when we had to let them go on Friday, as at present we did not have the facility to keep them, but they are not forgotten, as they provided inspiration for one of the Year 11 students, whose excellent artwork captured them so well.
