Hatching Eggs Update

On Tuesday it was time to candle our hatching eggs for the first time. They have been in the incubator for “eggactly” a week so the time had come to see which ones were fertilised. The “hentastic” Jos from Henpower came to support us and answer any questions the children had.

The candling process involves taking each egg out of the incubator for a brief time, we go into a darkened room and shine a light through the egg. We are looking for the veins of the developing blood supply and potentially eyes which begin to become more prominent at this time. Everyone washed their hands first to prevent any bacteria passing through the semi-permeable membrane of the shell. Then off to the cupboard for the candling to begin. We had fantastic results, 22 of 25 eggs incubated at school were successfully showing development and at Angel Court 19 out of 25. This shows how well the children have been monitoring and caring for the eggs, keeping a close eye on the humidity levels and temperature. We also made an attempt with the year 6 children to hatch some eggs under one of our own hens, but unfortunately she didn’t seem too keen so those went in a separate incubator, we’ll find out next week if any of those are developing too.

As you can see Kath was waiting for us when we arrived at Angel Court. After visiting the school she fell in love with our little silkie bantam and can’t wait to have hens of her own. The children were very gentle and showed the residents what they needed to do to candle the eggs. We did this inside a box so no even those with mobility issues had t a chance to look.

Next week we candle again ready for hatching on the 11th/12th of July. Then the fun really begins when we have live chicks to look after.

Principle 4: Forest School offers learners the opportunity to take supported risks appropriate to the environment and to themselves.

Article 23 – We all have the right to special care and support if we are disabled and be able to lead a full and independent life.