Hatch and raise your own ducklings or chicks in Vernon British Columbia Canada
Supporting Okanagan Valley locals with a unique community experience
Raise your own ducks in BC Canada in the community of Vernon British Columbia Canada. Did you know that a small business in Vernon British Columbia offers the unique opportunity to hatch your own chicks or ducklings? It's true, Vernon Teach and Learn offers this opportunity for anyone; the kit is a reasonable price and includes the eggs, the incubator, a Bin for the chicks, feed, a food holder, a water holder, a candler, and an information book! However, the best part of this is that the kit is for rent, so no need to store any of the items. They do this program throughout the spring time and it is available to everyone! Consequently, this year Raising Stars Preschool took part in this program and it was very exciting!Raise Your Own Ducks in BC Canada - Preparation Stage
Time lapse of the final hatching portion
Setting up the eggs was easy, the incubator comes pre-set for whichever eggs you are doing. We did duck eggs. First, you simply plug it in and put the eggs in, making sure the rotator is inside the incubator. The eggs automatically rotate every once in awhile. The machine makes a beep, and the eggs turn. All you need to do is make sure the water is filled up nightly.
The Duck Calendar
The candler is included in the kit. Once every few days, we candled the egg by taking it out of the incubator and holding the candler - which is a special light to the egg to see the development inside the egg. Furthermore, this was especially exciting closer to the hatch day, as we could tell which were definitely hatching! Two days before the estimated hatch day you need to remove the egg turner inside, when we did this there were no peeps in the egg (a peep is when the ducks first break through the egg). Above all, to raise your own ducks in BC Canada can be very educational.
The Duck Hatching Process
The next morning there were two eggs with peeps in them! The children were all very excited, though I think the grown-ups involved may have been more excited! The egg wiggled a bit in the morning, and we started hearing the duck make some chirping noises. However, it wasn't until eight hours after the first hole that he started to push his way out of the shell and hatch! The whole hatching experience is amazing to see! In the end, we had three ducks hatch, and after spending 24hrs in their incubator drying, they came out and went into their heated bin with food and water!
Watching the Ducks Grow
We ended up keeping the ducks for about a week after hatching. They grow really fast!! The children and the staff got to take the ducks for a swim and watch them dive underwater and slash about. We had them bathe/swim about once or twice a day; eventually, we had to move the heating pad underneath the bin so they would stop making such a mess with their water and food. About a week after hatching, the ducks were delivered safely back to Vernon Teach and Learn and sent back to the farm. All the equipment also went back to Teach and Learn so no storage is required for this activity once done!Two of the three ducks that hatched at Raising Stars Preschool going for a swim!
One of our ducks from Vernon Teach and Learn hatch a duck program right before heading back to the Farm.