Incubation & Embryology

Welcome to the Westchester County 4-H Incubation and Embryology Project. In previous years, we hatched chicks in classrooms all over our county, and in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Manhattan, too.

While we understand how beneficial this program is in providing students a hands-on experience with incubation and embryology, the COVID-19 pandemic complicates the in-classroom process. We fear that the sanitizing and cleaning agents used in classrooms this year may be harmful to the growing animals; and rolling school closures make for an unpredictable planning process. As a result, we regret to say that we will not be able to do the I&E program for this school year but do hope to resume the I&E program next year. We thank you for your past participation and we look forward to working with you in the future to implement this excellent program enjoyed by so many youngsters.

If you are interested in partnering with us when it is safest to do so, please read below for insight in to our I & E program operations: 

4-H INCUBATION AND EMBRYOLOGY CLASSROOM PROJECT AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY COOPERATIVE EXTENSION 4-H OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

Cornell University Cooperative Extension offered the opportunity to hatch chicken or duck eggs in the classroom as one of our 4-H STEM projects. The 4-H Incubation and Embryology Project is an observational science project that offers classroom teachers the opportunity to satisfy STEM goals, encourage observations, develop critical thinking, and use Language Arts skills to create newsletters. “Learning to learn” is basic to this project.

This program is designed to provide youth with life cycle knowledge about the chicken's egg, its sequence of embryonic development and the incredible nature of birds.

While the program is on hold for the time being, check out the resources below to learn more, and gear up for when I&E is back to its full operating status:

BROODING
Daily care and handling of a dependent chick is presented as an important part of this project. Requirements for growth and health of the chick include providing warmth and cleanliness. Students can make comparisons with their own requirements for growth, health and safety. A habitat in a box!"

HELPFUL HINTS FOR HATCHERS!

Hints for Hatchers
Control Relative Humidity
Basic Rules
Hints for Duck Hatchers
Basic Rules for Ducks

FAVORITE WEB SITES FOR THE 4-H INCUBATION & EMBRYOLOGY PROJECT

4H Embryology Project from Penn State:
http://extension.psu.edu/4h/projects/poultry/embr...
http://extension.psu.edu/4-h/projects/poultry/emb...

Egg Camera from University of Nebraska: Watch them hatch, good candling videos, photos of non-viable eggs at different days during incubation, photos of hatchlings and adults.
http://lancaster.unl.edu/4h/Embryology/

University of Florida Incubation and Embryology- tutorials, lessons, even a song!
http://florida4h.org/embryology/index.shtml

Chickscope . This is biological imaging and more from University of Illinois Extension:
http://chickscope.itg.uiuc.edu/explore

Visit the 4-H Virtual Farm to visit several types of farms and hear what farmers have to say.
http://www.sites.ext.vt.edu/virtualfarm/main.html

For great photos from Great Britain
http://www.feathersite.com

American Egg Board lessons plan
https://www.aeb.org/eggs-in-schools/classroom

New York State 4-H Poultry Site
http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/4H/birds/index.html

National Agriculture in the Classroom --Search the states by grade level, subject and topic.
https://www.agclassroom.org/matrix/

NY State Agriculture in the Classroom
www.agclassroom.org/ny

Cornell Lab of Ornithology Bird Biology and Feathers
http://www.birdsleuth.org/bird-biology/

Last updated August 22, 2022