Chick hatch program gets cracking

SYDNEY — The first round of the chick hatch program began at selected schools on Cape Breton Island on Tuesday.

This is an introduction to one of the 4-H agricultural programs being offered to local schools. Each year students and teachers from across the province are given the opportunity to hatch chicks in their classroom through the Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture’s chick hatch program.

The program is designed and best suited for students in Grades 3-6 but can be done with any elementary class from Grade Primary to Grade 6.

The pre-primary classes cannot take part in the program at this time. The chick hatching happens twice each year with kits distributed in late April and then again in late May.

Each kit contains one incubator, one automatic egg turner, one egg candler, one feed dish, one water dish, one heat lamp, two medium bags of shavings and two small bags of feed and a chick hatch reference guide. One dozen fertilized broiler chicken eggs are also provided for the hatch.

A list of 13 videos were created specifically to enhance classroom learning, mostly created in Nova Scotia and featuring local chicken and egg producers.

One video shows teachers how to set up the incubator, what to look for when candling eggs and how to properly care for the chicks once they hatch.

Eggs will hatch 21 days after they are set in the incubator. Teachers and students will have to care for the chicks for a few days until the chicks and all parts of the kit are picked up on the Friday after they hatch.

After the hatch, chicks will be provided a safe home by the Department of Agriculture staff person who picks them up at the participating school.

This is a project that students will remember for years. It has been rewarding for the teachers and students who have participated in the past and it gives students a start to exploring the science in agriculture.

For more information on this and other agriculture awareness programming contact the provincial co-ordinator at AgEducation@novascotia.ca.