Author: Morgan Murphy
Planning Unit: Elliott County CES
Major Program: Agriculture
Plan of Work: Youth Agriculture outreach in the community
Outcome: Intermediate Outcome
On April 16th, 2022 6 classrooms received an incubator, fertilized eggs, and all other materials needed to hatch out chicks in the classroom. Along with the chick hatching materials, I was able to provide worksheets for teachers to go along with the project that I received from going to a 4-H poultry training. Each teacher was provided with all materials and detailed instructions on how to successfully hatch chicks. I made sure to let them know I was available to stop by and help troubleshoot during the incubation period if needed. I was able to go and do lessons with 4 out of the 6 classes on egg candling and the parts of an egg and their functions. During the lessons, the students were able to candle several of the eggs and look at their development and they were even able to see the chicks move in the egg! For the parts of the egg lesson, students got to do a hands-on activity where they cracked store-bought eggs and identified each part and its function. All 6 classrooms had eggs hatch! I was able to visit each classroom after the chicks hatched and the students were very excited to tell me about their hatching process. This project was great because I was able to expose kids to 4-H in schools I previously hadn't been able to get into for other programming. The funding for this project was made possible through an Ag Mini Grant through the Kentucky 4-H Foundation with matching funds provided by the Elliott County Extension District Board. I was also able to purchase the eggs from one of my 4-Hers who has an egg business. Overall, this project reached over 200 youth in the Primary, Intermediate, Middle, and High School! I also received an email from the principal at the Primary School telling me how much all her students learned and enjoyed the chick incubation project. After the success of the project this year, I can't wait to make this an annual 4-H project with our school system.
Elliott County is a beautiful county tucked away in the hills of eastern KY . However, with all its ... Read More
Elliott County 4-H Livestock has long been a great program for the youth in our county with around 2... Read More