My class at our small country school hatched out the cutest little baby ducks a few weeks ago. After 20 some days of the children carefully turning the eggs twice daily, checking the temperature and humidity, and barely checking their excitement, the eggs cracked. Several of them hatched right before their eyes, and can you even imagine the squeals I heard?!
Out of a dozen eggs, six produced these chirping beauties, and six were inactive. The eggs came from a local farmer, and these are not your run-of-the-mill ducks. Apparently the farmer had the male shipped from back East just to breed with a duck she had on the farm. I need to find out the name of the breed, and I’ll share that when I know. So, here are our classroom exotic Oregon Ducks! Go Ducks!
They have now returned to the farm. After two weeks and ducks that tripled in size and smell, their time had come. But not before many little children drew pictures of them, wrote stories about them, and even dreamed about them. Next up, a visit to the farm to visit Chloe, Blackjack, Stripe, and the others.
As a child we would sometimes hatch chicks and I remember one time my parents marked the eggs and my siblings and I each had one that was “ours”. I think that it was supposed to be a competition to see whose would hatch first, but mine was, as you say, inactive.
Jen November 14th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
Rae, that’s a great idea to mark them in that way. It definitely personalizes the whole experience. But sad when yours doesn’t hatch. Wow, what a life lesson.
Old MacDonald had a farm… your next field trip to visit the ducks will be a lot of FUN! A very neat learning experience for all of us. (eg. I didn’t know that ducks smell!!!)
Come see some of Cory’s photos on my current post!
Julie November 16th, 2009 at 9:01 pm
P.S. I almost didn’t click on your site as I had no interest at all, whatsoever, to read about the Oregon Ducks - what a pleasant surprise to see these cuties instead!
I can just imiagine the excitement on the childrens faces. I would have been too. But I would have had to compost myself, being and adult and all.
And a trip to see them after their all growed up would be fun, too.
9 Responses
What a fun class project!
As a child we would sometimes hatch chicks and I remember one time my parents marked the eggs and my siblings and I each had one that was “ours”. I think that it was supposed to be a competition to see whose would hatch first, but mine was, as you say, inactive.
Rae, that’s a great idea to mark them in that way. It definitely personalizes the whole experience. But sad when yours doesn’t hatch. Wow, what a life lesson.
Oh how nice it would be for the kids! My daughter would love the idea of an egg cracking in front of her eyes!
Hey, I had to laugh at the ” ducks that tripled in size and smell”. I can imagine. :-)
They are a cute bunch though! I’m going to show this to Pristine when I go home.
Old MacDonald had a farm… your next field trip to visit the ducks will be a lot of FUN! A very neat learning experience for all of us. (eg. I didn’t know that ducks smell!!!)
Cute!
U dun good my friend!!
http://www.runninggalinsights.blogspot.com
Come see some of Cory’s photos on my current post!
P.S. I almost didn’t click on your site as I had no interest at all, whatsoever, to read about the Oregon Ducks - what a pleasant surprise to see these cuties instead!
GO BEAVS!!
I can just imiagine the excitement on the childrens faces. I would have been too. But I would have had to compost myself, being and adult and all.
And a trip to see them after their all growed up would be fun, too.
Fencepost, please don’t “compost” yourself! Heehee…
How cute! And what fun for the kids :)
RSS feed for comments on this post
Comment