Your Tasks:

• Identify how the basic needs of a growing chick are met during egg incubation.

Materials Needed: 

• Dyed, hard-boiled eggs, (leave shell on,)

  • Use 1 cup hot water, 20 drops food coloring

  • Allow eggs to sit in dye overnight

• Hand lens (magnifying glass)

• Raw egg

• Container of warm water

• Food Coloring 

Instructions:

1. With a hand lens and a dyed hard-boiled egg, look carefully at the shell of the egg. Observe the tiny pores on the eggshell. 

• There are more than 7,000 pores on an eggshell that allow oxygen to pass into the egg and carbon dioxide to pass out.

2. Compare the pores at the large end of the egg with the pores on the rest of the egg. 

• The pores at the large end, where the air cell is located, are larger and more numerous than pores on other parts of the egg. This allows oxygen to enter the air cell easily. Just before hatching, the chick will puncture the air cell and use the oxygen stored there to breathe until it pecks through the shell.

3. Peel the egg. 

• Like the food coloring, oxygen enters the egg through the shell’s tiny pores. Point out that the dots of food coloring are larger and more numerous where the air cell is located.

4. Place a raw egg in warm water. You will see tiny air bubbles rise to the surface of the water. Air is escaping through the pores in the shell. 

5. Make sure to take plenty of pictures and make your submission! 

• Submit 3-4 images of the correct steps of the experiment. One image of the dyed egg with shell observing the pores. One of the peeled boiled egg and one of the raw egg in water. Other images are encouraged.