petcarefun.info

April 29th, 2009 by KittyKitty

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 adorable baby birds, then return them so they can live out their lives on 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. Enjoy the baby birds for a couple of days and then bring them to back to Wagon Train.

It’s pretty affordable 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 regularly (maybe you’re a teacher?) it might be worth it to buy an incubator. Eggs are available year round.

Don’t forget about the older kids. I always imagine 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 tougher questions, though!

Have you hesitated to get a pet?  Don’t have enough space, or it’s too big of a time commitment?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 organize this 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 come in on Tuesdays, so be prepared 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, the world’s best Kindergarten teacher, for this info!