This morning we had the opportunity to go to a hatchery and see thousands of newly-hatched pheasants. The group travelling was to meet at 7:45 a.m. to head out on our little field trip. We almost never get up that early, so it was a challenge for me to pull it together and get kids up and fed and out the door.

Amazingly, everything went very smoothly. The kids were cheerful, the trip went by quickly, and the hatchery was fascinating.

When we arrived, the staff started pulling out one long tray after another of pheasant chicks. Each child was encouraged to hold one, and when the younger children hesitated, a patient staff member would hold a chick out for that child to pet.

The big job for today at that facility was to count out and box up all of these chicks to be sent along to another place for raising. Some kids held chicks while the counting was going on, other kids helped count chicks, and still others of us rummaged through the leftover shells and unhatched eggs that were about to be discarded. We found it so interesting to crack open the unhatched eggs and see what was inside. Some had nothing more than a yellow yolk, while others had a fully-formed chick inside. Many of the chicks in those eggs were dead, but some were quite lively when they were opened up. We have no idea if any of those chicks will live very long, but they certainly have more chance of it outside the shell than in it.

The State of Illinois raises tens of thousands of baby pheasants to introduce into hunting programs which in turn raise money for the State. I have never seen so many birds in one place. Each of the children got to hold the babies as long as they liked, and we got to have a tour of the facility. To see more photos of our adventures, see my gallery on the right under “My Links”. If you look in the album of my favorite photos, you’ll see an album of our field trip.

After we toured the hatchery, we spent some time playing at the state park nearby. The kids loved climbing on the playground equipment, and several of the older children asked if they could follow one of the trails leading into the woods. We agreed, so they headed off to discover uncharted lands. Soon they came running back asking us to go on a hike with them to see the interesting thing they had discovered. We moms weren’t quite as eager to hike, but soon got caught up in the excitement and agreed to follow them. The woods were so pretty, and we were pleased to note that it’s early enough in the season that there are NO BUGS pestering folks yet. When the kids led us to their discovery, I had to admit it was pretty interesting. There was a grove of trees that had a layer of white cottony fluff all over the ground. I don’t know exactly what it was. Maybe some seed pods in the trees had burst open and dropped the fluff. But whatever it was made that area look like snow or something magic.

Once our hike was done we loaded back up and headed to McDonalds for lunch. Being the frugal person that I am, I was only willing to purchase items off the dollar menu for each of my children. They didn’t complain too loudly though and they had fun climbing all over the playland.

All in all, it was a very fun field trip and I was so glad we went. Homeschooling rocks!