Sourcing eggs for this unit of work
You can order eggs in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia through Living Eggs. In South Australia, the Hahndorf Farm Barn will supply Adelaide and surrounding areas with eggs and support. In Queensland, Heritage Hatching and Hens supplies Brisbane, Ipswich and the Scenic Rim with eggs and support. In Melbourne, you can contact the Australian Mobile Farm Company. You will also need to consider issues such as:
- sourcing an incubator
- your school’s policy on live animals in the classroom
- seeking permission from parents for their children to participate in handling animals
- whether any students have allergies that might affect them.
You will also need to consider what to do with grown chicks. Will the provider of the eggs take them back? Do they pass the chickens on to suitable homes? (There are many ethical considerations, as you need to know that the chicks will not be euthanised after you have finished caring for them.) You may like to consider the information set out on the Edgar’s Mission website where they offer an alternative program to hatching in the classroom.
Alternatively, you could arrange a visit to a farm or view videos of chicks hatching, such as:
- Our Chickens Hatching! (YouTube: 2:21 mins)
- A Chicken Egg Hatching a Baby Chick (YouTube: 2:35 mins).
If you choose to have an incubator in the classroom or to visit a farm, a class camera would be useful to record the experience.
