Duck Brooder

Once our ducks hatch we will have to move them from their incubator into their brooder. A brooder helps to maintain a warm temperature and comfortable environment for the ducks. We will put corncob litter on the bottom of our black bin, that will keep the ducks from slipping and will be easy to clean up after they use the bathroom!



 


This is what the ducks will drink out of, we have to put marbles in the bottom because baby ducks get VERY excited around water. We have to make sure they don't get too wet when they first hatch.




This is the lamp we will use to keep the ducks warm!

Learning all about how we feed baby ducks!



Where will the ducks live?

When our ducks hatch, they will stay in our classroom for a week! After a week they will need to go to a farm where they can live outside and grow nice and big. Brittany, one of the staff in our classroom is taking the ducks home to her farm. The farm is in Churchville. Brittany will take pictures of the ducks as they get bigger and bring them in to share with everyone. Maybe, if we are lucky, we will get to visit with our ducklings once they've grown up! We've attached some pictures of the other animals that live on the farm, do you think the ducks will be friends with them?

This is Stewart!

My name is Stitch

This is Pepper the Goat and Brittany

My name is Jack

Sebastian, Flounder, and Spiffy

Mrs. O'Reilly's Class!

Happy Monday! We were very excited this morning to see that another classroom wrote to us about our ducks! Mrs. O'Reilly's class from Canandaigua Elementary school sent us a letter and a list of names for our ducks. We put the letter and the names out in the hallway for everyone to see!!!!

Thank you Mrs. O'Reilly's class! We will let you know when we vote on names!

Where did our duck eggs come from?

Our duck eggs came from Nature Berry farms! It is in Macedon, NY. The farm has ducks that lay eggs. The farmer goes around and collects the eggs after the duck laid them. We were supposed to have 12 eggs, but because the weather is so cold the ducks were not laying a lot of eggs. We still have 8 eggs though, and hopefully we will have 8 ducklings!

Nature Berry Farms

What do baby ducks eat?

When baby ducks hatch, they eat starter feed. The ingredients in starter feed are:

• Ground corn
• oats
• alfalfa
• hay
• soybeans
• fish meal
• wheat bran
• vitamins
• eggs
• milk

This is our bag of starter feed! It weighs 5 LBS!

What Room 3 is saying about hatching ducks!

I can't wait to hold the ducks! I think they will be soft like a sweater.

I can't wait to see the ducks swim and say "Quack Quack."

I want to feed the ducks when they hatch.

I can't wait to see how many ducks hatch.

I want to see the ducks hatch out of their eggs.

I think the ducks will be black and say "quack quack." I want to see them swim, but I hope they don't bite!

Temperature Control

Everyday we have to make sure that the temperature inside the incubator is 99.5 degrees fahrenheit. This is the perfect temperature for duck eggs!

                                

This is the knob we use to control the temperature inside our incubator. If it is too hot, we turn the knob to the left and if it is too cold we turn it to the right.

Checking to make sure the temperature is just right!

Countdown to Hatch!

Each week, one of us is assigned the "duck helper" job! Right now, we change the number on our countdown to hatch poster. This poster is out in the hallway for everyone to see. Here are some pictures of us doing our job this week...

Help us name our ducks!

On Wednesday, we brought flyers to every classroom explaining that we are hatching ducks! We wanted to get everyone involved, so we are asking for help with the naming of our ducklings. We have 8 eggs in our incubator, so we need a list of top 8 names!
We asked everyone who would like to, to submit a list of names (top 3 choices) and send it back to us. So far we've gotten some really fun and creative choices. A lot of people have had questions for us, so here are some answers:

Q: Can each classroom only submit one sheet?
A: No! Make copies and send over as many choices as you'd like!

Q: Are only students allowed to enter names?
A: Of course not =-) We are accepting ALL name choices!

Q: When are the name choices due by?
A: Friday, April 1st (so we have time to vote on our favorites!)

Daily Egg Care

Every morning we take the lid off and add water to the bottom of our incubator. Duck eggs need extra humidity in order to hatch. The humidity helps soften the hard shells, which helps the ducklings hatch easier. We have to be careful not to spill water on the eggs, too much water can be harmful to them. We also have an automatic egg turner in our incubator. Eggs need to be turned at least four times a day, and since we have to go home at the end of the day and on weekends...this helps us make sure our eggs get turned!

Day 1

Today is the first day we have duck eggs in our incubator! There are 8 eggs. We are very excited because in 28 days, we will have baby ducklings in our classroom! Here are some pictures: