February Learning Challenge ~ Hatching Baby Chicks

On February 22nd we placed 15 eggs in an incubator to see if they would hatch. It has been a great experiment for the kids and for us. The eggs had to be kept at a constant 100 degrees, and turned 3 times a day. I admit a few days I forgot to do that second turning, and when the eggs were first put in the incubator the temperature got above 100, I was afraid I may have cooked them. By the grace of God we now have chicks hatching!


They started hatching yesterday, and when we went to bed we had 5 baby chicks! You can see a sixth egg about to hatch on the left, and a seventh egg with a hole pecked out if you look closely just below it.
This morning we had 7 chicks, and three more eggs with visible holes pecked out. I am so excited! Out of 15 eggs over half will hatch! 

This has been so fun we are going to do it again. This incubator was borrowed, so last night we bought one of our own along with an egg turner so we wont have to remember to turn them 3 times a day. We are saving our own chickens eggs and we hope to have 40 to put in there by Saturday night. Eggs take 21 days to hatch, so these eggs should start hatching on Easter Sunday which falls on April 8th this year. Yay!!!