Watch Baby Chicks or Ducks Hatch

Do your children like animals? This activity is part pet care, part science lesson, and all fun! You can get eggs, take care of them for a few weeks, watch them hatch into cute baby chicks, then return them to the store so they can move to a farm. If you live in Southern California, there’s a store in Orange that makes this easy to do.

Wagon Train Feed & Tack in Orange sells chicken, duck and quail eggs and rents out incubators. You bring the eggs home, keep them warm in the incubator, turn them over regularly, and in a few weeks little beaks will start breaking through the shells. The kids can enjoy the babies for a day or two and then bring them to back to Wagon Train.

It’s pretty inexpensive for such a great experience.  The incubator rental costs $25. Eggs cost between $12 & $30 a dozen depending on the type. If you’re going to do this often (maybe you’re a teacher?) you might want to buy an incubator. Eggs are available year round.

Don’t forget about the older kids. I always picture this kind of activity taking place in a Kindergarten classroom, but older kids enjoy it too. And they actually understand more than the younger kids. You might have to answer more tough questions, though!

Have you hesitated to get a pet?Don’t have a big enough house or enough time to commit to a pet?Hatching eggs takes place indoors and the whole thing only lasts a few weeks, so this could be the ideal way to expose your kids to animals.Or you could offer to host this activity for your child’s classroom.  Kids always benefit from animal-centered activities.

Here’s the information about the store:

Wagon Train Tack & Feed
7618 E Chapman Ave
Orange, CA 92869
(714) 639-7931

The eggs arrive on Tuesdays, so be ready to pick them up on Tuesday or Wednesday. Call at least a week ahead to order the eggs and reserve the incubator.

The Wagon Train in Orange is the only store that offers this service in Orange County. If you find a feed store that’s willing to do this in your area, please let us know.

Thanks to Mrs. Maffetore, Kindergarten teacher extraordinaire, for this info!