Just Call Me Mrs. Kempner-Frizzle!

I hatch chickens in my room. It is something I have done most every year I have taught. It is truly trial and error. One time I blew the sockets out of the whole kindergarten wing. Shortly after I put the incubator in a safe place behind my desk...in front of a window. There is also the time I took the incubator home and they all hatched on Tim while I was out of town. Oh yeah, and the times I hatched with Catherine and had to come in on my days off to make sure it was all ok. I have performed c-sections and even had to be the gentle one who helped a few pass on and out of misery. Two years ago we had a crack on a few that got stuck. While trying to unlodge them one exploded on me. I will say that was the worse! I literally had to leave school and go home to shower. One thing I don't ever do is break open non developing eggs. Well, today I broke the rule. Mary and I were candling the eggs when we discovered 3 were not growing. She asked if we could crack them and I sent her to Kempner. She of course was gone....so I took tissue, my classroom pointer (for a far off cracker), and 4 kids out to the woods by the school. One was empty, whew was all I could think. The second was very little and full of veins. (This was actually kinda neat.) The third was a bit more underdeveloped than the one pictured above. Talk about just plain strange. I felt as if I was doing something horrible yet I knew he had long ago passed. The kids each held him and it was truly a neat experience. Will I do it again...most likely not....but I am glad I put my big girl panties on and did it for my kids! I can't wait till the rest hatch! They are the only babies I have seen move in the egg. They HATE the light and move away with quite a vigor! I guess I am a country girl at heart!