Noel students learn about chicks

Apr. 14—Students in Sheila Wilson's third-grade class at Noel Elementary School have had some feathery company for the last three weeks or so — chicks.

Wilson was one of 10 teachers in Ector County ISD who took up the offer to bring chicks into her class. Extension Agent Steve Paz donated the eggs and incubators to the classrooms.

In an email Paz said each year local producers/cooperators provide fertile eggs. Debbie Roland, Winna Garrett, Shellie Emiliano, Mark Cooper, Luis Paz and Debra Hernandez provided approximately 35 dozen eggs.

The baby chicks that are hatched go back to the individual farms and are raised to provide fertile eggs for next year's Hatching in the Classroom project. Ector County Leadership Advisory Board, Texas A&M AgriLIFE Extension Service, and the Ector County Commissioners Court partner in getting the necessary supplies for the project, the email said.

Before they left, though, students got another chance to watch them in small groups.

They also told Wilson all the things they had learned about the chicks through a bubble map.

With these bubble maps, the word chicks were in the center with a circle around it and other bubbles were like satellites outside so they could write in their facts.

They also offered opinions. Students said the chicks made them nervous and several had never seen the chicken lifecycle.

"It was cool," said 8-year-old Ethan Ta. He said this is because it takes three months for a chick to become an adult.

Skylar Renner, 9, said she had watched videos with chicks before, but hadn't seen them in real life.

Hayden DelBosque said it was cool to see how the chicks grew.

Things they learned included:

— Hens lay 300 eggs each year.

— Chickens live for 10 to 15 years.

— Chicks become adults at 3 months.

— They take 21 days to hatch.

— They pip (first break in the egg shell) with an egg tooth. Once they pip, they take 7 to 24 hours to hatch.

— When the chicks are in the egg, they get all their food from inside the egg.

— Their color is determined by the color of their parents.

— The eggs weren't all the same color.

— The temperature in the incubator was 99.5 and three days before they hatched, it was turned up to 101.

— The incubator does what the mother hen does and spins the eggs.