More Pictures of Salt & Pepper

Today we bid farewell to our chicks, Salt and Pepper! They are going to a farm where they will be well looked after. One of the grade 8 students has adopted them and has promised us that he will take very good care of them.


As you probably already know, our chick in the brown egg did not make it. He fought a hard battle, but for some reason was not able to fully hatch out of his egg. As we told the children, it was nature's way of doing what was right for the chick. In most cases, if the chicks are too weak or have a physical deformity, they are not able to hatch. If you help them to hatch (which is not recommended), they will probably die soon after. Our other white silkie egg did not end up hatching at all (it never started). However, we are very happy to have hatched two beautiful silkie chickens!


Here are some pictures from our first few days with them!

Ms. MacKinnon holding her favourite chick, Pepper!

Day #1 - letting them pet them for the first time!

Out for a walk around the classroom while their home is being cleaned.

1 Day Old

Pepper is coming to get me!

Could they be any cuter?? :)

We took some time to explore the insides of the broken shells. These shells were excellent homes for Salt and Pepper as they grew and developed over the 21 days. It's hard to believe that they fit in there!

You can see the blood vessels (we were able to see this when we candled). Some of the yolk in this egg was not absorbed by the chick and you can see it in the egg. Normally the chick would eat the entire yolk before hatching.

This egg was much cleaner! Still lots of blood vessels!

Out for a morning stroll on the mat!
2 Days Old

Today was the day the children have been waiting for since they hatched! Today we let them hold the chicks! It was impossible for me to get pictures of everyone, because I had to help out when the chicks tried to climb out of their little hands! I was able to capture a couple of good pictures. This is hopefully something they will remember for many many years.

Summer Lee holding Pepper.

Emma Claire holding Pepper.

Dominic holding Salt.

Mary having a heart-to-heart with Salt. :)

Devin holding Salt.

Joey getting snuggly with Salt.

Teamwork. The chicks bring everyone together! :)

We are going to miss the chicks a lot! This was so much more special than just visiting chicks at a farm. We helped to create these chicks! They started out as empty eggs and with the special care and love of 25 grade two students, they turned into chicks. :) The children got to experience every aspect of the life cycle (unfortunately they got to experience death as well). I can't wait to hatch chicks again another year! It is something that I will never forget!