UMES Extension and SANS drew the attention of festivalgoers of all ages with outreach activities at the special 2023 edition of the Delmarva Chicken Festival. The event returned on Oct. 7 after a nine-year hiatus to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first dedicated broiler chicken farm on Delmarva. Held at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium in Salisbury, it featured the famous giant frying pan of the event’s 66-year history, local food trucks, live music, vendors, exhibits and family-friendly attractions.
Egg-ucating youth, and even some adults, on the development of chickens was the day’s assignment for UMES Extension 4-H STEM educators. Visitors to the educational booth participated in “candling” eggs, the process of holding a light against the shell to illuminate the inside of the egg to see whether the egg is fertile or not. An unfertilized egg, or one just a day or two old, is almost completely see-through, but as early as the third day into development, thin red lines can be seen that are new blood vessels and the heart forming. As the chick in the egg grows, less light can pass through its body and the egg looks darker and less opaque. Youth viewed an embryo model with illustrations of what the chick looks like on each of its 21 days of development so they could further understand what they were seeing during the activity.
“It was great to see the wonder on both the kids and the adult’s faces as they candled each egg,” said Ariel Clay, UMES Extension’s 4-H youth development STEM specialist. “We can be so removed from how our agricultural systems work, but these participants got a glimpse of the day-to-day magic that is part of our local broiler and egg industries.”
Pre-vet students and faculty, and volunteers offered face painting and coloring pages for children and information for teens and parents at the School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences table.
Gail Stephens, Agricultural Communications, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences, UMES Extension, gcstephens@umes.edu, 410-621-3850.
Photos by Todd Dudek, Agricultural Communications, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences, UMES Extension, tdudek@umes.edu.
