Chicken or Egg?

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? My answer has always been the egg. Two chicken like creatures mated, laid an egg, and a hybrid was formed: the chicken. This has always been my reasoning for explaining things to my students. It's a little different explaining it to my sons.

This week we took a field trip to my in-laws to start 25 broilers, which are meat chickens. We got up early and drove an hour and a half to pick up day old chicks from the hatchery. The little yellow fluff sticking out of the holes in the box is more than little fingers and big fingers can resist touching. We went back to my in-laws and made a little home for them. Their new home is an old, plastic sandbox turtle. We put bedding in the bottom with a heat lamp hung about 2 feet above them. Chick starter feed was put into an egg carton and electrolyte water was added to a mason jar waterer. The boys took turns handing me chicks to transport them to their new home. I dipped their beaks in the water to get them started. Some kept drinking, while others huddled together.

The boys wanted to play with the chicks. It was tough telling them no because all I wanted to do was hold them. My mother-in-law and I repeated gentle over and over again. My 4-year old got the hang of it, but my 3-year old was better just petting rather than holding. I was so afraid we were going to have a Lenny situation (Of Mice and Men reference). (My husband and I make the Lenny reference because our 3-year old is a big kid).

I really liked that the boys got to help with the chores and the making of the chick's new home. They were as gentle as they could be, and no chicks were harmed. I explained that the chicks hatched out of eggs, which led to a discussion about the eggs in our fridge. I explained this by saying the eggs in the fridge can't hatch babies because they don't have a daddy, only a mommy. The eggs the chicks pecked through have a mommy and a daddy, and now we are the new mommy and daddy for them. This explanation came with a lot of whys, but in the hour and a half drive home I think I got them answered.

FYI: Eggs that you buy in the store are unfertilized. Eggs that you buy off of a farm can be fertilized if a rooster is present. The taste isn't different, and most people don't ask if they are fertilized or unfertilized.