How Quail are Better for Your Classroom than Chickens

It’s a classic hands-on classroom science demonstration:  Hatch chicken eggs to learn about development, observation, anatomy, and more.  Plus, it’s a thrill for children to see the eggs hatch, and the adorable chicks that result.

But what do you do with a dozen or a half a dozen adorable chicks who soon become large, noisy chickens no one wants?

There’s a better way to do this that keeps all the old benefits and adds some new ones:  hatch native Bobwhite Quail eggs instead.  CEEDs’ Bobwhite Quail Project guides you through the process.  Your students learn all the usual embryo development lessons,  as well as conservation and ecology and the connection between quail and ticks, and the public health crisis with tick-borne diseases such as Lyme Disease.

Plus, quail eggs are about ¼ the size of chicken eggs, so you can incubate a larger number in a smaller space.  At the end of the classroom program, you simply deliver the chicks to CEED, where we will raise them the rest of the way and then release them to help rebuild the population of native quail on Long Island. And your students will be a part of an island-wide conservation effort.

So much better than trying to rehome chickens!

And be sure to watch today’s Friday 15 on Instagram (at 2:15) where Eric and Sally will talk about quail eggs.  Or find it in our Instagram videos later …

Email Ranger Eric Powers (eric@ceedli.org) or our Office Administrator (info@ceedli.org) for more information or to arrange a classroom presentation.