2019 is the sixth year that Children’s and Parents’ Services have hatched baby chicks during the school spring break. Over the past few years, we’ve had a pretty good hatch rate for our chicks. In 2014 we successfully hatched eight chicks, the last of which we named Lucky because he almost didn’t make it! In 2015, ten chicks and last year, nine chicks hatched. We candled our eggs and discovered that at least one of them is empty. Because the shell of the dark brown eggs is so dark, it makes it difficult to see what is going on inside the egg.
On Tuesday, April 2, I placed two dozen eggs in two incubators, located in my office on the Lower Level of the Library. The eggs are white, green, light brown, and dark brown.
The white eggs are from a White Leghorn mix breed and they will hatch yellow chicks we call “Leggies.” It has been shown that most males will have the light skin gene and most females will have dark legs.
The green eggs are Cream Legbar chicks and hatch various shades of brown with females hatching darker in color with defined “chipmunk” stripes, a “V” on its head and a dark “eyeliner” strip at its eye. The male chicks hatch lighter in color with blurred stripes and white dot on its head. They have yellow legs.
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