Chicks hatch at the Merritt Library

MERRITT – Chicks have hatched at the Merritt Library.

Seven eggs have been sitting in an incubator at the Library for the past 21 days and are set to break free.

“We have a staff member who raises chickens and was able to supply us with the all the material and stuff that we needed to incubate them and hatch them,” said Claire Sabiston, Branch Head at the Merritt Library. “We had an opportunity to get some eggs from a supplier in Vernon area who had access to a more of a specialized breed of chicken, their called blue Silkies, and so we wanted to give it a try again.”

Over the past couple of weeks, Sabiston said they have had classes come in to check on the status of the eggs.

“It’s not a whole lot to see while they are incubating but we have tried to show the kids what the inside of the egg looks like through the 21 days that the chick is developing and just build some anticipation.”

Once the eggs hatch, they will stay in the library as long as they can before needing to spread their wings.

“Depending if the weather cools off, we may be able to keep them outside for a little bit and keep them around for a little longer, but after that they tend to need more space and they start to move around more,” said Sabiston. We will try to keep them here as long as we can manage them in the library.”

Sabiston explains more about the breed of chicken and the fun the library is expecting.

“This breed of chicken, they are blue Silkies, they are very fluffy and they love attention, so we are hoping we are going to have some fun with them and be able to have some of the kids pick them up and cuddle them. We are hoping we will have all seven eggs hatch and we will have seven little fluffy chicks running around.”