Chickens. Chickens are an important part of our community. Whether it’s for their meat or their eggs or to be kept as pets, we definitely need them!
A farmer by the name of John D thought that it would be a good idea to bring in some freshly laid chicken eggs to show the pupils of Kiltiernan the miracle of life and how all life on earth is important.
So John brought in all 12 chicken eggs on the 23rd of May 2017.
The eggs were kept in an incubator which was the next best thing, considering that John could not bring the mother hen or else she would become defensive and the pupil’s would not be able to take a look at the eggs.
The students of Kiltiernan were introduced to the eggs at around the end of April. John showed the pupils the stages of a chick when she’s in the egg. Their time in the egg lasts for 21 days. From a tiny embryo to a little chick.
John decided that it would be fun to show us what a ‘candling’ is.
‘Candling’ is when you take an egg and put it under a flashlight. When you do this you can see the embryo of the chicken while they’re in the egg. It looks a little funny but it’s also pretty cool.
Some of the eggs, unfortunately, where ‘glogars’ or ‘blind’ eggs. “What does that mean?” you might ask. “And why is it unfortunate?” Well when an egg is called a blind egg it means that the said egg doesn’t have a developing chick in it…the chick’s dead. Which is why it’s called ‘blind’, its empty.
This usually happens because bacteria has gotten into the egg and the embryo inside has died because of uncleanliness. 
During the bank holidays the eggs hatched, specifically on the 5th of June, which just so happens to be the same week as a pair of twins from Kiltiernan.
The students got to meet the chicks, one class at a time. There were eight chicks which means that the other four didn’t make it.
That same day, the chicks had to go home because if they were away from their mother for too long after they hatched their mother might not take them in, thinking that these weren’t her eggs. Luckily, the mother readopted her eggs.
The next week, on Monday, John brought the chicks back but this time he brought the hen as well!
There was a little pen, near the centenary garden that had a big hen and eight little, adorable, chicks. The chickens all stayed there until the school day was over.
Everyone in the school found it amazing and loved that we got to keep baby chickens in our school for a day. It was definitely a fun experience and you can bet that the students of Kiltiernan will be bugging their teachers until they get a school pet.

-Erin P