May Calendar

Learn about how a duckling develops inside an egg, candling eggs, and tips for raising ducks by clicking this helpful link.

Click on events for more details.




Agenda View:

Four Ducks Trying to Hatch

We have four ducks trying to hatch.  If you turn up the volume, you can hear them!

Follow live at bit.ly/koenigyoutube.

Hatch Day?

We have two ducks (#4 & #8) who have cracked through part of their shell and the membrane. 

Follow along with our live feed at bit.ly/koenigyoutube.

Candling Eggs - Day 13 in incubator.

Half-way...Day 13 in the incubator.  Today, we candle the eggs with Harvey's class.  The air sac has enlarged and the embryo is getting larger and taking up a lot of room in the egg and it is hard to see the image through the shell.

Since the first day in the incubator, we know the brain and the heart formed.  Now that the seventh day has passed in incubator we know that the beak and the organs are developing!  This week, the embryos will have developed nostrils, feather follicles, and the appearance of claws.

To learn more about candling eggs, this site helps explain the reason and process:  https://www.qcsupply.com/blog/product-tips-and-how-tos/how-to-candle-egg-and-why-it-is-important.html

You might want to plant some milkweed after viewing  Monarch winter migration (by ABC News) coverage in Mexico!

Day 11 - back from the weekend

This morning, we found TVHC missing and a new chrysalis at the front of the enclosure!  How exciting! Monday, April 15 should be the eclose from that particular chrysalis. We also found five hungry little caterpillars!  One of the chrysalids in the back is starting to change color and you can see the beginning of the black wings showing.  It is a good thing we now know the difference between a male and a female Monarch!

The second-period class is concerned about duck egg #17 as there are dark, black spots inside the egg and some kind of liquid was oozing from the shell.  After candling it, I rinsed the shell before putting it back into the incubator.  It is still hard to tell what we are seeing.  We will give this egg a few more days in the incubator but will keep a watchful eye and a sensitive nose ready for a stinky (rotten) smell.

Koenig classes will candle on Tuesday - Harvey classes will candle on Wednesday.  They are starting to get dark inside the eggs!

End of day addition:  I removed egg #17 from the incubator - as it was oozing more liquid from the shell so I decided it needed to be cracked to view what was going on.  The smell filled the room and no heart, vein, or duck was inside.  The egg was starting to rot in the heat and humidity.  The egg was thrown away and the air was "Febrezed".  Sorry, Period 2 - the egg (and your loss) will be remembered.

Visit our FlipGrid MixTape to see some of our recordings.

About Candling Eggs

To learn more about candling eggs, this site helps explain the reason and process:
https://www.qcsupply.com/blog/product-tips-and-how-tos/how-to-candle-egg-and-why-it-is-important.html

Day 5

Our 20 duck eggs have settled into a balmy 100℉ oasis of fun.  They get gently rocked each hour and flipped 5 times a day.  As I arrive at school, I mist them with a light spray of water.  Life's a beach for them!

The Monarchs, on the other hand, are simply showing off their maturity! Our one large caterpillar doubled in size overnight.  As he came to school on Monday, we measured him at 2 cm.  Today, he is just over 4 cm!  He chowed down on lots of leaves yesterday!  We now see four more tiny caterpillars ready to follow the eating patterns of the large one!

Visit our FlipGrid MixTape to see some of our recordings from the day.

Day 4

As the eggs were moved from the Koenig home back to school, we massed the eggs to see if there was a change in weight from the first day they arrived.  As weird as it seems, they actually DID get a bit lighter.  For the most part, the eggs dropped one gram.  I did see several eggs that kept the same mass or dropped by three grams, but the majority of them dropped one gram.  I will re-weigh the eggs on Wednesday when we pull out the three eggs/class to candle for the week-one mark.

A few more Monarch (caterpillar) eggs hatched in the butterfly cage.  We can now see 2 chrysalides beginning their metamorphosis, 1 large caterpillar (eating more and more each day) and 3 very tiny, baby caterpillars.  Each caterpillar will need at least 5 milkweed leaves to consume in order to grow to the size needed to start the transformation into a butterfly.

Visit our FlipGrid MixTape to see some of our recordings.

April Calendar

Learn about how a duckling develops inside an egg, candling eggs, and tips for raising ducks by clicking this helpful link.

Click on events for more details.




Agenda View:

Candle an Egg with Koenig classes

Today, we will take the assigned three eggs for each class and candle them.  I will start off by candling an egg (from a chicken - borrowed from Mrs. Nystrom, our Cafeteria Manager).  We will compare the two kinds of poultry eggs.

1. We will take our eggs and our cell phones (or flashlight) into the prep room.
2. We will turn off the light and get our eyes adjusted to the dark.
3. We will place each egg on the "flashlight" side of one phone using the flashlight app.
4.  Students will use their phones to video and record what each egg looks like. (The light will shine through the shell of the egg and present an image of what is inside the egg.)
5. We will candle the eggs each Wednesday to conclude at the two-week mark.  After the two-week mark, the growing duckling gets so big inside the egg where we can no longer see anything but a large, dark mass inside the egg!

Visit our FlipGrid MixTape to see some student reactions.

The Eggs Have Arrived!

Our excitement is palpable!  The eggs have arrived!

Photo of Duck Eggs

Visit our FlipGrid MixTape to see some student reactions.

Eggs arrived at the Frisco Post office!

Stafford Middle School just received a phone call from the post office!  Our eggs are in a holding pattern until they are delivered to the school!  We are excited and can't wait to see those 20 eggs!!  They go into the incubator on Friday, so we welcome them ANY time this week!

March Calendar

Kids are getting excited about the egg delivery!
They thought it was interesting/weird that you could send eggs through the mail (postal service).
Mrs. Koenig let them know that LIVE ducklings can also be sent through the postal service!

Take a look at our upcoming calendar for March, and click on events for more details.

Agenda View:

Building the 2019 Duck Sanctuary

Rain didn't stop these students from volunteering after school to build a new duck sanctuary.

February 3rd, 2019 - Starting the Sanctuary

Campus Beautification Club ready to start working on duck plans! Maps of the courtyard, collecting dirt in January, planting in February and the hatching date is being set! 
We can't wait!

2018 Ducks All Grown Up

Duck update:
Remember the ducks hatched at Stafford in the spring?
They are all growing and have this beautiful stripe on the side of their wings. Males and females both have a stripe. They all still look the same. 
They say around four months or so the male duck beaks will turn yellow and their heads green. 
So far, we have no idea of gender.

May 21st, 2018 Duck Update - New Enclosure

Owners just made this new enclosure for protection, and they are growing quite rapidly! 
Feathers are coming in and flying must be a skill coming soon!!

May 21st, 2018 Duck Update

Duck update - They are loving their new home! They still love jumping in their pool and swimming!

May 8th, 2018 Duck Update

The ducks are getting so big!

May 6th, 2018 Duck Update

The ducklings are hanging out with Mrs. Harvey this weekend and have been really learning how to swim.

They are becoming pros at swimming and sunbathing.

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