Alternatives To School Hatching Projects

by Karen Davis, Ph.D.

Some teachers place fertilized eggs in classroom incubators to be hatched within three or four weeks as a lesson on how embryos develop from conception. We urge schools to stop chick-hatching projects and replace them with other ways to teach children about embryo development and the life of birds. Hatching projects place a burden on the community, on overwhelmed animal shelters, and on busy parents who ultimately dispose of birds they didn't want in the first place. Hatching projects encourage children to want to bring more baby animals into the world, like litters of puppies and kittens. They encourage the view that animals are disposable objects instead of requiring a lifetime of care and commitment. In addition, most schools do not have a veterinary budget even though some or all of the birds obviously need medical attention.

Hatching-project birds are deprived of the mother hen, and many grow sick and deformed because their exacting needs are not met during mechanical incubation and after hatching. For example, chick organs often stick to the sides of the shells because they are not rotated properly. By contrast, a mother hen turns each egg in her clutch as often as 30 times a day, using her body, her feet, and her beak to move the egg precisely in order to maintain the proper temperature, moisture, ventilation, humidity and position of the egg. Embryonic and newly-hatched chicks respond to soothing sounds from the hen who in turn responds to subtle signals from her chicks that humans don't recognize.

We urge schools to use alternatives such as picture books, models, videos, and classroom drawing activities in which students must accurately draw a specific stage of embryonic development, present their drawing to other students for identification, and then place the illustrated stages in the proper sequence inside the egg in a big book or poster compilation, and explain why this sequence makes biological sense. We urge schools to buy the 12-minute color video Chick Chick Chick, which includes a Teacher's Guide, to help students K-6 to perceive chickens and other animals in a new way. With music but without narration, the program gives a "chicken's-eye-view" of the world, and includes a chick-hatching scene.

United Poultry Concerns is a nonprofit organization that promotes the compassionate and respectful treatment of domestic fowl. www.UPC-online.org.