Chick project brings students out of their shell
By Scott Mitchell Johnson
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — Nancy Watson’s pre-K students at Pine Street Elementary School weren’t the only ones chirping during a recent field trip to Presque Isle Middle School.
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
MADELYNN PUTNAM, a pre-kindergartner at Pine Street Elementary School, pets a baby chick that hatched recently at Presque Isle Middle School. The chick is being held by seventh-grade math/science teacher Cindy Cote.
The children visited some of the seventh-grade classes to see baby chicks that hatched two weeks ago.
“We talk a lot about animals and their characteristics throughout the year,” said Watson. “As we talk about the seasons, new life and how baby chicks are a sign of spring, I wanted to hatch chicks so the students could see the process, but we were not allowed to do this at Pine Street this year. So, the seventh-grade teachers invited us to visit theirs.”
Cindy Cote, along with fellow PIMS math/science teachers Tracy Fox and Chelsea Cheney, incubated chicken eggs for 21 days.
“Each class hatched eggs, but my class had a 100-percent hatch rate of 12 eggs incubated. Mrs. Fox candled the eggs at day 7 of incubation and we could see that the eggs were viable,” explained Cote. “The incubator maintains a temperature of 99.5 to 101 degrees. Humidity is maintained at 65 percent until days 20 and 21 when it increases to 80-85 percent. Eggs are turned 2-3 times a day. Once all the chicks hatch, they are placed in a large kennel with food and water where a temperature of 90-95 degrees is maintained for a week.”
The chicks were hatched May 12-13.
Watson said her students were “very excited” about the field trip.
“They were thrilled to see the baby chicks. We talked about seventh-graders working with them. The children colored and labeled the parts of the egg with the seventh-grade students,” she said. “They were able to see the chicks in the incubator and older chicks with soft feathers in the pen.
“On the bus ride back, the students who were sitting near me said that they had so much fun!” said Watson. “I even received a couple of e-mails from parents saying that their child loved the trip. I would definitely do it again.”
Cote said the chicks will be given to a local farmer who will raise and keep the hens to produce chickens.
