An Egg-cellent Science Week in Kangaroo Flat

Story by Kinta Walker, Goldfields Libraries

Kangaroo Flat Library’s ‘Eggs Alive!’ programme hatched chickens in the library for National Science Week!  The incubator and brooder were bought with a Victorian Seed grant for National Science Week.

This fun programme created a great community connection, as all types and ages of people were fascinated in watching the chicks during hatching and growing quickly over the next ten days.  Being able to hold and pat the chicks was a great conversation starter, and many people reminisced about their own poultry experiences.

We had visits from nursing homes, special needs groups, and child care and playgroup centres. Babies, toddlers and pre-schoolers were enthralled by the chickens at storytimes – watching the eggs hatch, then a week later patting week old fluffy chicks.

Some of the first hatchings were captured on video and time lapse, and we ran this as a loop on an iPad at the desk for those who missed the hatching, and this created many a discussion also.

As part of the ‘Eggs Alive!’ programme, Kangaroo Flat Library also invited poultry enthusiast, Graeme Smith to speak during National Science Week.  He brought along several handsome hens and roosters for display and observation, which clucked and crowed throughout his talk. The audience was not distracted however, and learnt a lot from Graeme’s wealth of experience about keeping healthy and happy chickens at home, as well as breeding and showing poultry.

People also followed along on Kangaroo Flat Library’s Facebook page where we posted videos and photos of the chickens at least daily, if not more often!

The incubator and brooder now belong to Goldfields Libraries, and the Kangaroo Flat Library staff have set up an ‘Eggs Alive’ kit for ongoing use in other library branches with procedures and staff induction.

For more information about this kit, contact Goldfields Libraries.