Outhatched

By: James Ashley Carr and Hazel Nava

Over the course of four weeks, starting on March 27th, 22 fertilized eggs have been put into an incubator, under the care of Isis Clark and Tom Sabo. These eggs came from Montpelier High School’s very own hens, making this an extremely interesting experiment for students and staff alike to watch.

Out of those eggs, only 14 are expected to hatch. 

Clark claims, “there may be other complications that get in the way, causing those numbers to go down.”

Despite the odds, six chicks have already hatched by April 18th, the first egg hatching on the 21st day of incubation. The hatching days were spread apart quite a bit, as some eggs were collected later than others. 

The one thing the eggs will all share in common is that they will all be half golden comets, due to the fact that the rooster in the coop is a golden comet breed. This makes most of the chicks hybrids.

Other breeds that can be found on the school grounds include Buff Orpingtons, Barred Rocks, and Rhode Island Reds. However, no Rhode Island Reds produced fertilized eggs, so each chick will be a hybrid between the Golden Comet rooster and an Orpington or Barred Rock.

Despite the few, short weeks that Sabo and Clark cared for the incubated eggs, up until they hatched and were moved into the greenhouse, these chicks have made an impact on our school. Many students and staff came together for these chicks, whether that was caring for them, holding them, or even just admiring them, giving everyone something in common. By giving our school community this gift, it brought people together to share the experience of watching these baby chicks go through their first few stages of life.

As the chicks grew, they eventually became too big for our school to continue looking after them. So, after many treasured moments, seven were sent to Madam B, and the rest were given to several other local families who will continue to give them the loving care they deserve.