A special experience over the Easter holidays

On Friday morning, children, parents and care staff sit close together and gaze intently at a wooden box with a glass pane on the first floor of the guest floor. Inside are 20 fertilized eggs of different chicken breeds – so-called “colored eggs”. Next to it is a lovingly decorated “Zugwägeli”, lined with hay and equipped with a heat lamp – the future enclosure for the little chicks.

The eggs in the incubator

The first chicks

Patience is required

For three weeks, the eggs in the incubator have been carefully warmed, moistened and regularly turned. Spring is announcing itself outside – everyone is waiting inside.

“It’s going to happen today”, says experienced farmer and early childhood educator Monika. She knows exactly what she’s talking about.

A child slides closer to the incubator. Some of the eggs are already showing fine cracks. Nobody speaks out loud. Hatching takes time. Minutes turn into hours. A tough, exhausting process – visible and immediate.

“It’s work,” says a nurse quietly.

The hatching begins

The children observe attentively. Life doesn’t suddenly appear – it fights its way through. Then the time has come: the shell gives way. A small, wet chick pushes itself into the light. It is exhausted, still uncertain, but it moves.

“It’s alive,” whispers a girl.

More chicks hatch during the course of the day. Each one is closely followed, almost guarded. There is no rejoicing like at a party – instead, people marvel and pause.

The effect is tangible. Conversations arise. Questions are asked – carefully and honestly:
“Does it hurt?”
“Why is it taking so long?”
“Can everyone do it?”

Not all questions have simple answers. But they can be asked.

The chicks dry, straighten up and take their first wobbly steps. Life, at the very beginning – fragile and amazingly strong at the same time.

For a moment, the perspective at Flamingo Children’s Hospice shifts. The focus is not on diagnoses or prognoses, but on development, on beginnings, on possibilities.

A care professional later puts it in a nutshell:
“This is often about saying goodbye. But today it’s about beginnings.”

Later, the chicks can be held carefully. There is warmth in your hands, a rapid heartbeat – barely perceptible and yet still there. These are brief moments that remain.

In front of the drawing cradle

The little chicks

Experiences at the Bollenrütihof

Finally, the chicks move into their lovingly designed enclosure. A few days later, Monika and her pony Toby collect the chicks and take them to the Bollenrütihof, where they are allowed to grow up. That’s part of it too: Letting go. What remains is not a spectacle, but something quiet – a reminder that life takes time. Strength. And sometimes help.

Monika Bliggenstorfer grew up on the Bollenrütihof farm in Fällanden. She ran the Purzelhof farm crèche for over ten years, took over the family business in 2018 and has continued to run it with great dedication ever since. Today, she offers special pony and animal experiences, among other things. The Flamingo Children’s Hospice also benefits from her extensive agricultural and educational expertise: Since March 2026, various animal-assisted activities have been carried out in cooperation with Bollenrütihof – both at the hospice and on the farm.

“I enjoy spending time with the animals, encouraging and challenging them with the aim of having safe, reliable and well-balanced animals that give us and the Flamingo guests a lot of pleasure,” says the farmer. Not all animals are suitable for such social assignments. Monika therefore makes sure that she only selects animals that enjoy contact with people and clearly show this through their behavior.

With her visits, she wants to bring children – especially siblings – closer to the animal world, enable contact and create an awareness of species-appropriate husbandry and a mindful approach to nature. This valuable cooperation is made possible by a generous donation from a grant-making foundation.