Rob Isner is program manager for 4-H Youth Development, working at George Washington Carver STEM School in Cleveland. As part of the Agriscience in the City program, Isner followed up with teachers who’d gone through the ChickQuest workshop, visiting classrooms to provide more information about hatching chickens. Isner gave a Powerpoint presentation with information about chick development, raising them in the city, what they eat, and different breeds of chicks.
In addition to sharing this information, Isner candled the eggs to check fertility. Infertile or bad eggs are discarded so that there is no risk of them going bad and exploding inside the incubator, contaminating the other eggs. Isner said, “My visits were prior to hatching to make sure everything was going well, which it always was.” Isner returned after the eggs were hatched to take the chicks to their permanent home.
Isner not only supports other classroom teachers with their hatching program, he oversees chicks at his own school. He said, “We hatched the third-generation of chicks born at GW Carver. Each year we hatch eggs from the prior year’s brood.” Isner said ChickQuest has had a great impact on the students: “The life cycle makes it real. The students were elated to see chicks actually hatch in our school.”
Interested in the ChickQuest program? Visit our website to learn about upcoming workshops. Register today!
