Watch chicks hatch and ducklings swim
GEDDES -- The 'far side' of the State Fair Youth Building is once again a hatchery, and nursery, for hundreds of baby chickens and ducks.
The chicken eggs are incubated, and then hatched in a see through dome. After being in a warmed area for a day--til their feathers are dried--the chicks go into trays of pens, and are pulled out for young fairgoers to hold. It's a Fair memory that's often caught for a fair souvenir picture.
Ian Lewis, from Orange County 4-H, was explaining the hatching process on Wednesday---telling young viewers that the newly hatched chicks often sleep because the 12- to 18 hour process of chipping out of a shell is exhausting. Lewis, a high school junior, says he's learning a lot about speaking to crowds, that he's calm about it now, but he was shaking when he first started.
There are also ducklings on display, today's crop just ten days old. Vivian Chappell, from Union Springs and Cayuga County 4-H, was tending the four species on Wednesday, leaving them in a swimming pond just a few minutes, so they would not get cold. She says ducks are easy to raise, but they need food and water, and their swimming water changed regularly.
