Almost exactly a month ago, we ordered 20 fertile duck eggs online and 2 incubators – one for each of the boys’ classrooms. For 27 days, the kids took daily measurements of the eggs (weighing each egg over time), monitored growth through a candler, made sure the eggs were rotated and kept the temperature and humidity in check. Each egg was numbered so they could keep track of everything.
The kids just couldn’t wait for the ducklings to hatch! Every day, we’d count off how many days were left (ducks hatch in 28 days).
Unfortunately, day 28 was a Friday – and a day off of school. The ducklings, one by one, pipped out of their shells Friday morning. The last one hatched Saturday morning. Of the 20 eggs we bought, 14 hatched successfully. One of the ones that didn’t make it was my fault — I dropped one while transporting it from the incubator to the candler. (BAD MOM!)
Here’s one of them hatching:
The following week, we brought the baby duckies to school for the kids to hold. Since I had video’d the birth of the duck, Andrew’s teacher showed the video up on the projector. Along with the 5th graders, we invited a Kindergarten class to come in as well.
The kids loved the hatching video! “ooooooh! They are soooooo cute!!!”
Once the hatching video ended – almost immediately, the next video on Steamy Kitchen Youtube channel queues up and begins automatically.
The true definition of the word “Unfortunately” can be summed up in what happened next.
UNFORTUNATELY, the very next video queued up was my video on how to make Roasted Duck with Chinese Steamed Buns.
That day, fifty-three kids, including a group of innocent 4-year olds, were traumatized.
EEWWWWW!
OH NO!!!
DID YOU KILL THEM?!
DID YOU EAT THEM!???
HOW COULD YOU DO THAT?!
THAT’S SO GROSS!
NOOOOOOOOOO!
I think that single unfortunate incident triggered an estimated $25,360 in future therapy sessions.
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What did you do with the ducks after you hatched them?
They were our pets!
Hilarious! Well, it ended up being a lesson about the circle of life.
That is hilarious. I suppose worse things could have popped up next, like an outtake montage. Speaking of which, with all the hours of footage you have by now, when do we get the Steamy Kitchen blooper reel? That would be fun to see.
I don’t know why I’m laughing, but it really is funny. Reality check: these kids obviously didn’t grow up on a farm. Kids who had would have shrugged it off. It’s life. It’s why we raise ducks. Not that many people raise ducks as pets, because they’re not really that cuddly. I think life in general is much more cruel that the observation of the farm-to-table process. I don’t think you really caused much damage. Ok, you dropped one, but, well, it happens. I’m still chuckling. Some day these kids, the ones who even remember it, will laugh, too.
What’s really fun is to fill up the bathtub, put the ducks in, and watch them “fly” through the water, flapping their teeny-tiny wings. Even really small ducklings love this.
(just make sure the water is tepid, neither cold nor hot)
Soooooo funny about showing the 2 videos. LOL
Now that is pretty classic. If only be kind, rewind, worked here!
They are so adorable when they try to help each other out of their shells!!
Couldn’t view the video 🙁
All fixed now! xo