Free Hatch The Chicken for Connecticut Alliance District Classrooms

The Connecticut Department of Agriculture has awarded Farmer Joe's Gardens a CT Grown for CT Kids grant to bring Hatch The Chicken to 16 classrooms in Connecticut's Alliance Districts in 2027 — at no cost to the school.

What your class gets

Five weeks: 21 days in the incubator, then two weeks with live chicks. We deliver a tabletop incubator that arrives already programmed, seven hatching eggs from our flock in Northford, a candling light, a brooder kit, feed and a book your class keeps — with printed setup instructions. At the end we come back and collect every bit of it, chicks included. Raising and rehoming them is our responsibility, not yours.

  • Every hatch lands on a school day — never a weekend.
  • Nobody touches the chicks. Children watch through the incubator's clear dome and at the enclosed brooder, with a written no-touch and handwashing protocol for your school nurse.
  • 900+ programs since 2022 · 276 schools · zero reported illnesses.

Who can apply

Schools and childcare centers in Connecticut's Alliance Districts within 50 miles of our farm in Northford. Priority goes to sites that have never hosted Hatch The Chicken. Further away? Sign up anyway — we're working on reaching you too.

When

Eight programs in spring 2027 and eight in fall 2027. The fall classrooms will have chicks in the room during CT Grown for CT Kids Week in October.

How to apply

Applications open in the next few months, once our state contract is final, and stay open for 30 days. Join the list below and we'll email you the day they open. Joining doesn't reserve a spot or give priority — every site is chosen by the same published criteria.

Tell me when applications open

For teachers, directors and principals. One email the day the application opens.

We'll email you a confirmation link first — click it to join the list. After that, a few emails a year about Hatch The Chicken. Leave any time.

Not in an Alliance District?

Hatch The Chicken runs across Connecticut every spring. See dates and book Hatch The Chicken here, or tell us your district and we'll find you a week that clears your break weeks.

Questions: info@farmerjoesgardens.com · 203-265-0696

Funded by a CT Grown for CT Kids grant from the Connecticut Department of Agriculture. Hatch The Chicken is a program of Rent The Chicken · Farmer Joe's Gardens LLC · 336 Forest Road, Northford, CT 06472