Todmorden CE School hatches a plan

Class 1 at Todmorden CE School (The National) were very kindly provided with a mini incubator and 7 eggs to hatch in our classroom. The eggs consisted of 4 bantam eggs and 3 hens eggs. The children were very excited about the project which grew into a half-term’s topic about chicks!

On 24th Feb we carefully placed the eggs into our pre-heated incubator. We waited very patiently for 21 days to see what would happen. On the 21st day (16th March) a couple of the eggs started to wobble and tiny cracks appeared. We were all very excited and desperate for the chicks to hatch. When we came to school the next morning, 4 chicks had hatched overnight and were all squashed up inside the incubator!
We left them there until late morning so they would dry out. Then we carefully transferred them to the ‘nursery unit’ which had been warmed up in readiness.

With only 3 chicks left to hatch, we couldn’t believe it when we noticed an hour later, that another chick had hatched during our maths lesson, without us even noticing!
After the children went home that day, the sixth egg was cracking, a hole appeared, and then a large piece of shell fell off! Three teachers, the caretaker and 2 cleaning ladies all sat and waited patiently as the chick struggled to escape from its shell. Most of the shell had fallen off and we could clearly see the chick encased in its sac and trying very hard to get out. Eventually, at 6 pm, it flopped out, exhausted and we all cheered!! Sadly, the last egg did not hatch, and we discovered that it was not a fertilised egg.

All 6 chicks thrived and grew really fast, changing day by day, and soon losing their baby fluff, which was replaced by small feathers. The chicks had lots of visitors, including parents, grandparents and siblings of class 1 ( and other classes!), playgroup, reception, and most of the classes came to look, and the staff popped in whenever they were passing the classroom.

Class 1 were very proud, and protective of their chicks, and were very good at working quietly so they wouldn’t upset their babies.

By the second day, the chicks were able to be handled gently and we allowed the children to sit in a circle and put 2 chicks down on the carpet in the middle. The children were fascinated and intrigued by the antics of the chicks.

Sadly, at the end of term, when the chicks were 10 days old, they had to leave us to live on a farm. We will all miss them, and hope they are happy in their new home.
We want to say a very big THANK YOU to Mrs Midwinter and IET for giving us – the entire school – the opportunity to experience the magic of hatching chicks in our classroom.