Incubation Station 2024 by Mr. Bianchi

Here We Go!

mrbianchi — 2024-03-28 15:52:18 UTC

Today the class learned about our upcoming project! Beginning when we come back from spring break, our class will be incubating and hatching duck eggs! This time lapse video was shown without the title and students had to guess what it was they were seeing!

Last Year's Updates

mrbianchi — 2024-03-28 15:58:23 UTC

Day 0

mrbianchi — 2024-04-09 14:00:12 UTC

Our eggs began incubating this morning! Pre-incubation the yolk floats towards the top and shows no signs of development.

Day 1

mrbianchi — 2024-04-10 18:12:32 UTC

Today we discussed what an incubator does, and how it works to help our eggs develop!

The main job is to create a warm and humid environment, and it’s other job is to turn the eggs.

We learned how a mother duck sitting on a nest would naturally rotate her eggs to keep all sides warm, so we create this with the incubator!

Day 2

mrbianchi — 2024-04-11 18:23:36 UTC

Today we learned the differences between male and female ducks, and why they have different colors to help camouflage the mother duck’s nest!

We also learned why baby ducklings walk in a row and follow their mother!

Day 3

mrbianchi — 2024-04-12 16:37:08 UTC

Are you seeing what I’m seeing?!
I spy tiny veins beginning to develop!

Today students learned about all of the parts inside an egg, and how they work to grow into a duckling!

Stay tuned for some big updates on Monday!

Egg Diagram

mrbianchi — 2024-04-12 20:09:54 UTC

Drake Diagram

mrbianchi — 2024-04-12 20:10:20 UTC

Hen Diagram

mrbianchi — 2024-04-12 20:10:37 UTC

Day 6

mrbianchi — 2024-04-15 18:18:09 UTC

What a change!
Now we can see lots of veins, and can see the baby embryo beginning to develop in the center of the egg!

Today we did our “egg dissection” experiment! We cracked open some regular chicken eggs and got to see firsthand all of the parts that work to grow the babies!

Day 7

mrbianchi — 2024-04-16 18:04:46 UTC

Today we compared rates of growth of chicken eggs versus duck eggs! We discovered that chicken eggs develop faster inside since it takes less days for them to hatch!

Day 8

mrbianchi — 2024-04-17 18:32:17 UTC

Even more growth today!

We can see the eyes beginning to develop today! We’ve learned that the eyes develop at a faster rate than many other body parts!

Day 10

mrbianchi — 2024-04-19 20:25:45 UTC

Today was a big day! We candled all of the eggs to check for growth, and have 8 showing steady development!

On Day 10, we begin cooling and misting the eggs. This is to simulate the real-life action of a mother duck getting up for food and a quick swim, then returning to the nest. We cool the eggs from 99.5° down to 86° and spray them with lukewarm water before bringing them back up to temp.

Day 13

mrbianchi — 2024-04-22 18:20:10 UTC

By this point, much of the egg is taken up by the growing embryo! Watch carefully and you can see it move!

Day 14

mrbianchi — 2024-04-23 20:10:25 UTC

Day 15

mrbianchi — 2024-04-24 17:42:39 UTC

Day 16

mrbianchi — 2024-04-25 16:23:18 UTC

Day 17

mrbianchi — 2024-04-26 19:39:37 UTC

Day 20

mrbianchi — 2024-04-29 18:08:15 UTC

Day 21

mrbianchi — 2024-04-30 18:11:20 UTC

Day 22

mrbianchi — 2024-05-01 18:11:09 UTC

Watch carefully! You can see the embryo moving around inside the egg!

Day 23

mrbianchi — 2024-05-02 17:26:10 UTC

Day 24

mrbianchi — 2024-05-03 18:48:04 UTC

Today we put the incubators into lockdown! This means we lower the temperature slightly, stop turning the eggs, and move them to a lower tray inside to allow more room for hatching!

Hatch Cam 2024

mrbianchi — 2024-05-06 18:21:31 UTC

Day 28

mrbianchi — 2024-05-07 16:15:07 UTC

Hatching has begun! Currently two eggs are showing their first pip!

Banana & Espresso

mrbianchi — 2024-05-08 14:41:55 UTC

Welcome to the world! The yellow duckling has been named “Banana” and the black one is “Espresso”!