Life After the Hatchery: The Truth Behind School Egg Projects
Each spring, classrooms across the country buzz with excitement as incubators are wheeled in and students crowd around, eagerly anticipating the peep of a newborn chick. At first glance, these hatching projects appear to be sweet, educational experiences: a chance to observe the miracle of life up close. But behind the cuteness lies a disturbing truth that too often goes untold.
At Catskill Animal Sanctuary, we’ve been called to intervene in the aftermath of these classroom activities, taking in the vulnerable, unwanted chicks who were born into a world that didn’t plan for their future. Our sleepy, one-eyed rooster Harold was rescued from a Philadelphia school project along with twelve other chicks who were set to be cruelly “discarded.” Luckily, one of the student’s parents alerted us to the situation and we were able to provide them all a happy forever home. The reality is, these babies are not science experiments. They are living, breathing creatures, each with a unique personality.
The Allure of Education vs. the Cost of Life
Chick hatching projects have become commonplace in elementary and middle school science curricula, touted as tools to teach students about biology, life cycles, and responsibility. But these projects, however well-intentioned, often prioritize spectacle over substance. Rather than fostering empathy or a deeper understanding of animals as sentient beings, these programs more often model an extractive, utilitarian view of life.
The eggs used in classroom incubators are typically sourced from industrial hatcheries. These facilities are not designed to support long-term animal welfare; they are designed for volume, efficiency, and economic gain. Once the chicks hatch, the narrative turns bleak. Male chicks, who cannot lay eggs and are not considered valuable for meat, are often discarded. Many female chicks, despite being “useful,” are still left without appropriate homes when the lesson ends.
When animals are used in classroom settings as part of science lessons or biology demonstrations, children may fail to develop meaningful empathy toward them, especially when those animals are treated as temporary or disposable. Even when framed as educational or paired with lessons in compassion, the outcome for the animals is often the same: they are discarded, abandoned, or sent to uncertain fates once the lesson ends. No educational benefit can justify exposing sentient beings to harm, discomfort, or premature death. The use of living creatures as classroom tools, regardless of intent, undermines the very empathy we should be cultivating in young minds. At Catskill Animal Sanctuary, we believe there is no humane way to use chicks in hatching projects; their lives are not ours to borrow for lessons.
A Glimpse Into the Hatchery Pipeline
To understand the broader implications of hatching projects, we must look at where the eggs come from and where the chicks go. The hatcheries supplying schools operate much like those that fuel the commercial egg industry. These hatcheries sort chicks immediately after birth: females may be sent off to grow into laying hens, while males, unable to produce eggs, are routinely culled within hours of hatching, typically by maceration (being ground up alive) or asphyxiation. In the U.S. alone, an estimated 300 million male chicks are killed this way each year (Vox, Wikipedia).
Even for chicks that survive, conditions are far from ideal. Incubators in classrooms are poor substitutes for the warmth and care of a mother hen. These artificial environments can result in a range of developmental problems, including temperature regulation issues, skeletal deformities, and weakened immune systems. The lack of proper veterinary care and socialization often sets these animals up for a lifetime of suffering, if they survive at all.
When the lesson concludes, most teachers and school administrators lack a long-term plan for the chicks. Sanctuaries, already operating at capacity, are inundated with requests to take in animals who should never have been bred in the first place. As a result, chicks are often given away to hobby farmers with limited knowledge of care, or worse, abandoned entirely.
Harold’s Story: A Life Reclaimed
Harold arrived at Catskill Animal Sanctuary after a Philadelphia student, concerned about the fate of her class’s chicks, convinced her parents to intervene. The school had no plan. The hatchery that provided the eggs offered no support. Left without guidance, the students were left to wonder: what happens next?
Harold was one of the lucky ones. Today, he lives among a flock of rescued birds, pecking at the earth, sunbathing, and taking long naps in the grass. He’s missing one eye, likely the result of rough early handling or pecking from improperly socialized birds. But here, he’s safe. And in his quiet way, Harold tells a powerful story: that animals used in education are not learning tools. They are individuals.
Chickens Are Complex Beings
Chickens are far more cognitively, emotionally, and socially complex than commonly perceived. They exhibit advanced reasoning abilities, such as transitive inference, enabling them to deduce relationships between individuals in their social hierarchy. Chickens also demonstrate self-control, a trait associated with self-awareness, and possess episodic memory, allowing them to recall specific past events. Their communication is sophisticated, involving at least 24 distinct vocalizations and visual displays, and they adjust their signals based on their audience, indicating an understanding of social context. Moreover, chickens are capable of empathy; studies have shown that mother hens exhibit both behavioral and physiological responses to their chicks’ distress, suggesting a capacity to share and be affected by the emotional states of others. These findings underscore the need to reevaluate how we perceive and treat chickens, recognizing them as sentient beings with rich inner lives. (Proquest, Farm Sanctuary, Wikipedia)
Yet despite this growing body of research, chickens are among the most abused and misunderstood animals on the planet. The classroom hatching project, however small it may seem, feeds into a broader culture that fails to recognize their personhood. When animals are treated as disposable, students internalize that life itself is disposable.
There Is a Better Way
Educators do not need to rely on live animals to teach lessons about biology or responsibility. In fact, removing live hatching from the classroom can open the door to more thoughtful, inclusive teaching. There are now numerous humane alternatives:
- Virtual hatcheries and time-lapse videos allow students to witness the development of embryos without harm.
- Partnerships with sanctuaries can connect students to real-life animal care without contributing to the breeding pipeline.
- Humane education curricula encourage critical thinking about our relationship with animals, promoting compassion and ethical decision-making.
Organizations like PETA’s TeachKind offer resources and lesson plans that help educators replace hatching projects with truly humane, non-exploitative alternatives.
The Role of Sanctuaries in Compassionate Education
At Catskill Animal Sanctuary, we believe that true education begins with empathy. When students meet animals like Harold, they are given the chance to understand them as someone, not something. We’ve seen time and again how a single encounter with a rescued animal can shift a child’s worldview.
Sanctuaries are uniquely positioned to provide the kind of immersive, compassion-centered education that today’s world desperately needs. Through field trips, virtual tours, and hands-on volunteer opportunities, we offer students the chance to learn about animals in a way that honors their dignity and worth.
We urge educators to consider what message they are sending when they hatch chicks in classrooms without plans for their care. Are we teaching respect for life… or just curiosity with consequences?
You Can Make a Difference
If you are a teacher, a parent, or a student, you have the power to shift the narrative. Ask questions. Advocate for change. If your school has a hatching program, consider suggesting humane alternatives. Contact sanctuaries like Catskill Animal Sanctuary to arrange educational programs that center animal welfare, not exploitation.
And if you’ve ever wondered what happens to the chicks after the classroom lights go out and the students head home, the answer is: they need us. They need all of us to care enough to rewrite the lesson.
We invite you to meet Harold. To listen to his story. And to help us build a world where no chick is hatched into uncertainty.
Because every life, every single one, matters.
Learn more about our humane education programs or sponsor Harold today.
