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Eggs Alive!
13 August 2018 @ 9:30 am – 21 August 2018 @ 5:00 pm
Free
Kangaroo Flat Library (Goldfields Libraries) is excited to announce that for National Science Week from the 13 – 21 August we are presenting “Eggs Alive!” Goldfields Libraries is a successful SEED grant winner and would like to share this whole experiment with the community.
With the money from the SEED grant, Kangaroo Flat Library was able to purchase an incubator and brooder. The “Eggs Alive!” project will hatch fertilised chicken eggs in a see-through incubator at Kangaroo Flat Library during National Science Week.
The newly hatched chicks will then be kept in a brooder under a heat lamp in the Library for just over a week, allowing the public to learn about the scientific aspects of the life cycle of chickens by observing, discussing and supervised holding of the chicks during opening hours.
The actual hatching will be filmed in time-lapse, which will then be shown on a loop near the chicks during this time, allowing people to see the hatching occurring if they missed it.
On Wednesday 15 August at 2pm we have a guest speaker from the Bendigo Poultry Club, Graeme Smith. Graeme is a poultry breeder of more than 48 years and is an “All Breeds” poultry judge for chicken exhibitions. Graeme will bring in a couple of adult birds for everyone to have a look at during his chat. He will discuss “showing birds”, rare breeds and how old breeds are being re-established through genetics and science, and general care and wellbeing of poultry. Any queries or questions by the public are welcomed at this informal session.
We hope with this experiment the community will learn more about poultry and the different sciences that are involved with hatching eggs such as biology (the life cycle of a chicken), climate (setting the temperature and incubator humidity) and Ecology and Agriculture (the benefits of eggs and meat and reduction in kitchen waste).
Storytimes during National Science Week will have a special chicken-inspired theme and people can also browse our poultry-themed library items on display. Kangaroo Flat Library staff can also provide feedback on the whole egg incubation process to people who might be interested in trying to hatch eggs themselves!