Entry #33: Survival of the Fittest

4/29/13
10:31 pm

Last night I candled the eggs again and I saw movement in the egg!! That was veryy cool and exciting! It makes it even more real that there's little developing chicks in there! It also makes me feel like I'm not just wasting my time flipping eggs! So that's a sweet relief.

Anyways as I was looking through the eggs I wrote down what the eggs looked like on the inside and this is what I saw:

1. Harry - movement
2. Ron - veins, no movement no dark spot
3. Hermione - movement
4. Bella - movement
5. Edward - veins
6. Katniss - veins
7. Peeta - veins
8. Jacob - movement
9. Dumbledore - didn't make it:(
10. Larry - dark spot, no movement
11. Curly - dark spot no movement
12. Moe - movement

So I'm assuming that the ones I saw movement and a dark spot in are going to hatch. I'm not sure what it means if I don't see the dark spot, it could be that I just can't find it at this point and they will still hatch as well. So so far all is going pretty well, but on the nights I can't see anything inside the eggs I get pretty nervous, so maybe I should stop candling them so often to calm my nerves!!

Entry #32: Candling, RIP Dumbledore

4/21/13
11:10 pm

OH MY GOSH. Candling is the cooooolest thing ever! It's so simple too!

Basically what I do is that I take the Flashlight app on my phone (crazy that I can do this with an app) and I put it behind the egg while I'm holding it and I can see the silhouette of the chick inside. It's crazy!

Usually this technique is done with a candle (or flashlight) hence the name. But I decided to just try my phone app and it really worked!!

 

So that is me candling the egg. You can't really see the silhouette in that photo. That egg is Katniss, and I did notice some veins, but I didn't see the dark silhouette spot of the embryo developing so I'm a little nervous about her.

Alright I'm not really sure why the photo is upside down and I'm not sure how to fix it but I made it extra large so you guys can clearly see the dark spot in the middle. That right there is little Peeta in there:)

I couldn't be more thrilled about how they're all doing. Some eggs I could only see veins running throughout them, but most I could see the little dark spot, and an even darker spot within the dark spot which is there eye developing!! Suuuuper cool.

Sadly, only one egg has nothing inside it, no veins, no dark spot, and that's Dumbledore. Poor little guy didn't even develop. Maybe he wasn't even fertilized. Who knows, but I'm still keeping him in the incubator, I don't know if I have the heart to just toss him out.

I am a little nervous about the ones that I don't see the dark spot in, but all the rest at least have veins so that is a good sign! I need to determine which ones have the dark spot and which ones don't and then record that in my blog to see which ones hatch and which ones don't. Or which ones hatch later, because that's also a possibility.

So now I'm definitely down to 11 little chickies. Which, yeah I knew that all of them wouldn't survive...I just hope Dumbledore is the only one to go:(

RIP Little guy.

Entry #31 Checking Up

4/21/13
6:40pm

So the temperature seems to be leveling off now. Sometimes I have to put tape over a hole I've cut into the sides of the incubator. To maintain the temperature at around 100 degrees, I had to cut some holes into the side, and then if I want to make the incubator temperature higher I cover them with tape. So that's what my dad and I have been doing lately, checking up on them and such. When I'm not home my dad peeks in every so often to make sure everything is going alright.

I have to turn the eggs over 3 times a day, I do this at 8 am, 3 pm, and at night around 9.

Pretty soon I'll have to build the structure where they will be in when they are chicks, and a few weeks after they are hatched I'll be able to move them outside to the coop, which I also have to build.

Entry #29: Incubator

4/20/13
2:29pm

So in this blog post I will in detail show how I made and set up my incubator!

Step one:
Gathered my materials.

I got two Styrofoam coolers, two pictures with glass frames, two extension cords, two humidity and temperature regulators (only one is pictured), two 25 watt bulbs, some snazzy looking duct tape, and 2 lightbulb to outlet adapters!

Step 2:
I took out the glass from the picture frames and I cut a big hole so that they would fit in the lids of the
Styrofoam coolers.



This step creates a window so I can look inside of the incubator to check on humidity and temperature.

Step 3: I put a hole in the bottom of the incubator so that the lightbulb would fit through, and put aluminum foil around the lightbulb so that the heat would be spread out more easily in the incubator.

Step 4: I put the thermometer and humidity regulator into the incubator and a sponge and bowl with some water in it to raise the humidity.

 Step 5: I got the eggs.

Step 6: I put the eggs into the incubator.

As you can see I took the digital thermometor out of the incubator because it's results we're waaay off. I put in 2 mercury thermometers and went to Agway to get a new hydrometer (humidity regulator).

 Now every so often I check on the temperature and humidity!

Entry #28: Egg Update

4/20/13
2:20pm

So the chicks are here and all set up in their incubators and the temperature is stabilized at around 100 degrees and the humidity in both of them is 54% and 60% which is also good since they need to be in the 50-60% range!

So all is well and nice and I'm not as nervous anymore, although I do check on them pretty much every time I walk by them. My next few posts will have allll the wonderful pictures I took while I made the incubators and then what the set up looks like and all that good stuff.

P.S Their official names are Harry, Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, Larry, Moe, Curly, Peeta, Katniss, Bella, Jacob, and Edward.

I know. I'm original.

Entry #27: The Night Before

4/18/13
10:17pm

So today I have spent the entire day assembling both incubators, getting everything prepared for the arrival of my eggs tomorrow!

And I put in the bowl of water for the humidity and the thermometer to measure the temperature and the light for heat.......and the temperature reads 120 degrees. WHAT. NO. It's supposed to be 100 degrees! I'm gonna end up frying them.

So my thermometer and hygrometer (humidity measurer) are reaaaaallllyyy s l o w at picking up on temperature and humidity changes and I'm having little freak outs and my parents are helping me but I'm kind of stressed!!....I never thought I'd actually be getting stressed about chicken eggs.

On a lighter note I've decided on a few named for my lil chickies. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Larry, Moe, Curly...Dumbledore is probably going to be one too. Maybe some Frodo? Gandalf? I was going to name one after my boyfriend but then it'd be a small tragedy if it died.....so I decided against it.

So now my dad and mom anad I are just sitting...watching...waiting for these thermometers. They're slow and really aggravating and I'm going off of my old fashioned mercury thermometer and it reads around 100 degrees while the digital thermometers read 108. What. WHY.

Ugh.

Anyways equilibrium, if you're out there please come soon!

Sincerely,
Gabi

Entry #26: Nerves

4/17/13
1:49pm

As this thing gets closer and closer I'm actually getting kind of nervous! Reading about all the things that could go wrong, not turning the egg, drowning...there's just so much that could go wrong if I don't pay close enough attention to the eggs!

Entry #25: Friday's Eggs!

4/17/13
1:17 pm

So I've recently had some problems getting these eggs! While emailing this guy from Cornell who said I could get the eggs, after he sent me an email saying I need to make an appointment to pick up the eggs from the poultry farm, he stopped emailing. So I had a little bit of a worry, not really panic, but just worried, and for 4 days he just didn't email me back. And of course that was very very frustrating  and I decided that on the 5th day, if he didn't email me back then I would just go to the poultry farm myself, without any appointment. But then guess what?! He emailed me back! And he said that I could come in this Friday at 9:30 am and collect the eggs! Well 9:30 means that I have to miss some school, but it also means I can sleep in hehe. And I really don't mind missing school for this!

Anyways that's my latest update! I'm super excited that in 21 days from this Friday I should have little cute chicks:)

Now I'm going to research all the requirements of what a chicken incubator should be, temperature, humidity wise, and then set it up for that!

Entry #24: Disrupting my Comfort Zone

A. For Brian Grazer he thinks that disrupting his comfort zone is the best way to get better. He gets a physical and mental challenge by disrupting his lifestyle and he believes he grows because of the disruption. He believes that by disrupting himself he will get better than he was before. He believes you need it later in life if you ever want to grow from who you are.
B. I have been disrupted lately actually. I thought that because I have been emailing someone at Cornell about collecting the eggs, it would be easy to get the eggs. But the guy who I've been emailing suddenly stopped emailing back, and I still don't know where to make my appointment to get the eggs. I thought I would have the eggs by now but I don't. So I'm going to finish off the incubators and then my mom and I are going to find the address of the Cornell poultry farm, even though we need an appointment to go.
C. This month I could meet with someone at the Cornell poultry farm to get the eggs, and a woman who is friends with my mom who owns chickens. I don't really know any "dream" people that I could meet with for chicken raising but I guess my hopes are the two people I mentioned before. Because without the eggs I have no project!

Entry #23: Eggs eggs eggs

4/10/13
9:31

Oh my goshhhhh I'm so impatient to get these eggs!! I want them so badly but it's proving to be a little more difficult than I thought it would be. I asked my mom if she could get me a contact for Cornell Poultry since the last time they updated their website was in 2002. An email, a number...fax? I wouldn't know how to fax so scratch that, but anything?! She said it would be easy for her to get a contact for them since she knows people in the Cornell Science Department so I'm crossing my fingers that she pulls through! But she's not texting me back right now so I may have to call her later today and remind her.

But I'm excited, and maybe you are too! I can't wait to get these eggs and put them in the incubator and have them hatch into cute little chicks! But I'm too ahead of myself so now all I can do is wait for them.

1:16pm

Wow that was a lot quicker than I thought it would be! My mom came through big time. A dozen fertile eggs are 10$!!! That's really way cheaper than I thought it would be! Apparently we can pick up the eggs by appointment at the Cornell Poultry Farm! I'll have to figure out where all that is! But I asked my mom when we could pick them up and I think we will be on Saturday! If we pick them up Saturday they will hatch around May 4th! That's much earlier than I expected but I'm very excited for it! I'll keep you all posted!

Entry #22: Post Costa Rica

4/9/13
1:39pm

So yesterday I arrived at night from Costa Rica! It was an amazing trip, and I actually saw a surprising amount of chickens and chicken coops. When you're looking out for them you really notice them a lot more. There were chickens everywhere! Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to take pictures because I saw most coops in passing while in the car. But some were very makeshift coops and very strange looking.

Also the website for Cornell Poultry was last updated in 2002!! So that's not much help to me. I know they still exist because when I went to Cornell with my mom before I left and they said they got their eggs from Cornell Poultry! But finding a contact for them is going to be a little more difficult than I thought. I'll ask my mom tonight to see if she can get a number for them. I would like to get my eggs no later than by this Friday. But as well as this, I'm going on a college visit this Friday so that might not work either! I may have to push it to Saturday, in hopes that they're open on Saturday!

Anyways in some upcoming posts there should be pictures of me assembling the coops and the finished product! I'm in school so I can't do them now, but they'll be up soon enough!

Entry #21: Pre Costa Rica!!!

3/26/13
1:29pm

So this Friday the 29th I will be leaving to go to Costa Rica for 10 days! I am soo excited. But that means I'll have to do all my journeling in a paper journal and then transfer them the day I get back. This also means I won't really be able to work on my project either.

Today I'm actually going to start making the incubator.  I have the two Styrofoam coolers (one is huuuge) and I'll be cutting holes into the tops of them so I can see what's happening inside while the eggs incubate. I'll have to measure out the holes so I can go out to Big Lots or Wal-Mart and get two cheap photo frames. Then I'll take the glass out from the frames and put them onto the holes I cut in the coolers to make windows.

I still need to get the chicken wire to put inside it though, but I'm just going one step at a time. I should be able to get the incubators done before I leave for Costa Rica.

After I come back from Costa Rica I will contact the people I'm getting my chicken eggs from. I think this is going to be through Cornell Poultry.

Entry #20 Post Weill Hall

3/22/13
1:16

Oh my god what I saw yesterday in the Jonathan Butcher lab was soooo cool! The 3D printers, and the chicken embryos! Just everything was so incredibly cool!

I'll start from the beginning. Sorry some of this won't have anything to do with my project at all but it was just so cool I can't not share it!

So my dad and I were with a group of high school students from surrounding high schools who were in AP Biology classes. We got a quick tour of the entire lab section of the building which was cool in itself. But then we came across this guy who showed us the first 3D printer I would see in the day. That was neat, but the best party was what they were printing, and what it was made out of. The guy told us that he was printing ears. Yup. Like human ears. And they were made out of cartilage. My mind was blown. Have you ever heard of people just making drawings of ears online and then printing them out? Me either! (I'm super interested in this kind of thing if you haven't noticed) But that was only half of it. Not only can they print ears..they can print YOUR ear. If you were born with a birth defect that left you earless, or your ear got cut off for some reason, they can take a mold of your other ear, or project what the lost ear looked like, or would look like, and they will make YOUR ear. The very same one that's on your head. Like what? What is science these days?! Then a surgeon can take that ear..the very ear you may be missing..and they will sew it onto your head and bam. You have an ear where once you were earless. Mind. Blown. At least I was. I kind of still am too. I just think it's unheard of!

So that was only the first rotation. Then we switched groups and I went to the part of the lab that actually has to do with my WISE project. Chicken embryos.

There is a lady working in Weill working on cardiovascular and biological engineering, what I told you about yesterday, using chick embryos. So she gave us a really really long speech and told us everything that she did in the lab and research and so on. Then I saw another super cool thing. This lady had taken fertilized chick embryos and literally cracked them into a cup. I thought that would just kill them....it doesn't. I saw these chicken embryos only 3 days after fertilization, and boy was it weird and cool and nothing like I had ever seen before.  After only 3 days, the chickens hearts are already beating. So in an incubator, in a cup, cracked, I saw the little tiny beating hearts of what could mature into a full grown chicken one day.
  That's what it looks like after three days. The little cashew shaped thing in the middle is the little tiny, teeny heart. It was really cool. So one of the guys that I was touring the lab asked, "Hey, you can't grow these things into chickens right? They die after a while." Nope, he was wrong, you can grow a chicken out of it's shell, cracked in a cup. She said it'd be very difficult because at that stage in their lives they don't have a great immune system, so they'd be extremely prone to bacteria and virus's. Anything that could get inside the incubator, they could die. It'd be difficult, but not impossible at all. After a few days you'd need to add egg shell though. She kept explaining and said: Chicken embryos need calcium to develop their bone structures and feathers and really to develop. So there was an easy fix. All you had to do is take an egg shell and crush it up until it is essentially, egg shell dust. Then you just sprinkle that into the yolk and developing fetus when the time is right. Then you can see the entire thing develop outside of a shell. Again: mind blown. Could you imagine how cool that would be? Kind of gross..but cool. The feathers developing, the bones, legs, beak...like I said, gross but cool. She also said another way to look at developing fetus's of chickens would be to create a small hole in the top of the egg, like the picture below
 Not as cool, but still pretty cool. I never knew you could do that. I'm definitely not gonna try either of those things with my project, but it's cool to see the alternate ways that you can raise chickens.

Then we switched stations again. The last station, like the first, doesn't really have anything to do with my project but it's still too cool not to tell.

I held a pigs aortic valve. Now, I watch a lot of Grey's Anatomy (I'm obsessed) and I don't know how accurate it is