Spring tradition: You can watch chickens hatch on OSU Extension’s popular livestream
CORVALLIS, Ore. (KTVZ) – Once again, the eggs are ready to shake, rattle and roll.
For the 11th year, the world can watch chickens hatch via the Oregon State University Extension Service livestream.
The livestream started Friday and will document the chicks as they hatch. The cameras will remain on until Thursday, March 21. The expected hatch date is Monday, March 18.
Faculty and staff at the OSU Extension Office in Astoria set up cameras to bring the livestream to the public. Once the chicks hatch, they move from the incubator to a brooding pen where they remain until they are able to regulate their body temperatures, according to Julie Scism, education program assistant with the OSU Extension 4-H Youth Development Program in Clatsop County.
The eggs were placed in the incubators on Feb. 27. The camera will rotate between the incubator and brooding pen until the chicks are ready to move to their new homes. The chicks go home with Extension 4-H members, who care for them and show them at the county and state fairs.
“The chicks are well taken care of,” Scism said. “After the chicks are born, we brood them for a couple days in the office, then they’ll be rehomed so that local 4-H youth continue learning about raising chickens, egg production and showmanship.”
Since the annual livestream launched in 2014, more than 89,500 people from around the world have watched chicks hatching on the OSU Extension website and more have watched on TV station websites.
