The Miracle of a Chick's Life

Earlier this week I stayed back at my son's Kindergarten for an extra 40 minutes watching a little baby chick hatch out of an egg! I think I was more excited, delighted and enthralled by it than my 5 year old son!

It was the first egg of the batch of 10 eggs to hatch and the little chick was very strong and dedicated to getting out of that egg! It started as a tiny little crack in the egg..where every so often you'd see what looked like a beak peak through and push to open the shell more.  It looked like really hard work. As the minutes passed and the crack got bigger you'd see sudden flutters of movements of what looked like the chick pushing it's legs or extending it's body out to put pressure on the outer shell. I marvelled at how they know & have the natural instinct to do it!

It would have been a sight though I tell you if anyone were a fly on the wall! It was me, Kane and the two Kinder teachers all huddled tightly around this little incubator staring for a good 15 minutes... waiting and watching for every little movement & sound. You could even hear the chirps from the chick inside the egg!

So it was 20 minutes of hard work on the chick's part before he'd managed to make the crack go around the whole outside of the shell. It was very hard not to want to help but the Kinder teacher said she'd learned the hard way that's it's best not to rush it or help incase the bird hadn't fully come away from the membrane.

I didn't have my phone or camera with me & didn't get any shots but here's a pic I found on the internet to give you an idea of what it's like.

I have to say I found it to be quite a profound moment. It made our discussions together all reflect on the miracle of life.  And then the discussion of how an egg fertilizes arose and not one of us knew the answer. We speculated that maybe the eggs in the grocery stores weren't fertilized because the hens didn't 'get it on' with the roosters??  But still none of us knew the true answer.

The question intrigued me so I did a little research.

So are you ready for a little Chicken Sex Education?

(taken from Buzzle.com)

Usually, a hen starts laying eggs from the age of three months at an average of five eggs a week. In order to get the eggs fertilized, the hen has to mate with a rooster. Otherwise, the eggs, laid by the hen will be unfertilized. Most of the eggs we buy from the store are unfertilized, as many poultry farms do not have the roosters to facilitate mating. Only when there is a demand for fertilized chicken eggs, or when they (poultry owners) need a new batch of egg-laying hens, that they search for a rooster. The natural mating season of chickens start from spring, when the days start getting longer. It takes only thirty seconds for the roosters to deposit sperm in the reproductive tract of the hens.

30 seconds!!!! ... and I thought human gals had it bad ;)

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After dropping Kane off to Kinder this arvo the Kindy teacher was very excited to tell me that ALL 10 eggs had hatched... the best success rate of chick eggs in all the years she's had them at Kinder.
Nature continues to astound and delight me every single day!

I do also have to admit that watching the chick hatch even made me discuss vegetarianism. I think I would be a vegetarian... if I honestly thought i could sustain a balanced diet without meat?  I've read many books & essays about the reasons why not to eat meat.. .and i completely understand it!

When I was in India around 8 years ago now... I was invited to a Muslim family home and they served chicken for dinner. At the time I had no idea what that meant as I was so used to a chicken meal but I found out not long after the meal what a big deal it was! That chicken had been slaughtered that very day especially for my visit.  When I asked about it they mentioned the slaughter was done in a more spiritual ceremonial way... giving thanks to Allah etc.  I couldn't fathom Australian families doing such a thing... it just seemed so out of sync with the way we lived. But I must say I respected the way they did it and actually liked that a meat meal was such a big deal for them.

  That experience definitely made me reflect and realise how different Western society is nowadays.

I do believe we westerners have lost touch with where our food is coming from and reflecting on it more is a healthy thing to do. Even if we're just thankful for the sacrifice made on behalf of us having food to eat. And so long as we all know & demand assurance from the farmers that the animal has a life that was not torturous and filled with anxiety before, then that's showing them the respect they deserve.

Buying free range makes sure of that.