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Pecking Order: Danbury 5-Year-Old Invents Safe Way To Gather Eggs

DANBURY, Conn. — A Danbury kindergartner is on his way to earning his first patent — and making his chores a little bit easier after wining a national award for his invention.  

Nico LaRosa, a kindergartner at King Street Primary School in Danbury, shows off his project.

Nico LaRosa, a kindergartner at King Street Primary School in Danbury, shows off his project.

Photo Credit: Contributed

Nico LaRosa, a 5-year-old student at King Street Primary School, learned the lesson that "necessity is indeed the mother of invention," according to the Danbury school system.

His problem? The family's chickens have a bad habit of pecking Nico on the arm — sometimes aggressively — when he goes to collect eggs. 

His solution? “The No-Pecker Egg Collector,” an impenetrable sleeve that leaves just his hand free to pick up eggs.

“When I would collect the eggs, they would peck at me,” Nico said. A chicken named Maniac was the worst. “Now I'm not scared they're going to peck me.”

Last weekend, Nico's invention placed second nationally at the 2017 National Invention Convention and Entrepreneurship Expo in Washington, D.C., in the kindergarten to second grade category.

The egg-collector idea started out as part of the school district’s invention convention, which is part of the science curriculum. 

Nico’s invention was selected at the regional competition to enter the statewide convention held at the University of Connecticut. There, Nico was selected to move forward to the nationals.

UConn is providing funding to patent Nico’s invention. 

Nico is the son of Andrea and John LaRosa and the brother of Lucas, also a budding inventor.

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