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We were not going to let a global pandemic get in the way of us running our Living Eggs project for the third successive year! Students and adults alike, who were in school during the main school closure, needed some joy and this project brought plenty of it.

Ten embryo eggs were delivered by livingeggs.co.uk on 22nd February and their incubator was set up. Students in school eagerly looked for signs that they were about to hatch. We saw shaking and movements on Tuesday afternoon.

On Wednesday morning, Mrs Lewis arrived at 7.30am to find our first chick safely hatched and chirping away - he must have arrived at some point a couple of hours earlier we think from his feathers. Over the course of day 3, more hatched and many students got to see them hatching which was fantastic and a first for many.

By Thursday lunch time, all ten eggs had safely hatched and, as these photos show, the excitement was palpable when students finally got to handle the chicks. Some were nervous but all were gentle and listening carefully to the instructions knowing that chick welfare had to come first.  

At the weekend, Mrs Lewis and Ms Bertin took turns 'chick sitting' (if that is the expression) which, whilst fun, was also a bit smelly if we are honest!

The chicks then came back to school on the Monday and every day their brooder box was cleaned twice; the chicks were carefully handled and loved by all. There were brilliant questions asked and answered in relation to embryo development, life cycles, their wings, whether or not these were 'actually the same as the chicken we eat',  if they could take them home and whether the school could keep them.

On Friday morning, we said our final goodbyes to the chicks and livingeggs.org collected them and took them to be re-homed at free range farms.