Chick Hatching Journal #2

Our 12 Eggs - Tans, Pinks, Blues, and Greens

Day 20

I checked on the 12 incubating eggs at 5:30pm and UNEXPECTEDLY found 4 pipped eggs! I thought I had heard some faint cheeps earlier in the day, but with Cheeper cheeping constantly nearby I thought it was her. Kids are SUPER DUPER excited!

We watched one egg wiggle around like crazy and heard some faint cheeping at 8:00pm. The pipped hole in one egg is larger and the membrane is now broken through. We can see movement through the hole.

At 9:20pm I check the eggs and - SURPRISE! - one yellow chick has hatched! It's doing well - cheeping and moving around, but oh-so-tiny! (Was Cheeper ever THAT little?!)

Taken Through the Incubator Window - Yellow Chick Minutes Old

The kids were able to watch Chick #2 - ALL black - hatch at 10:50pm! Sam says, "Mom, it's a miracle! This is the COOLEST thing ever!" I'm SO glad that they actually got to see a chick hatch! What an experience for them!

Chick #3, black, popped out at 12:10am. Chicks #1, #2 and #3 are transferred into the brooder and are doing well. Here's a video of them just minutes after going into the brooder. They're still a little damp!

Sometime between 3:30-4:30am (as I was sleeping), Chick #4, black, and Chick #5, yellow, hatched. 2 more eggs are visibly pipped. The kids rush down soon after for an update!

At 5:50am, Chick #6 pushed its way out of the shell, another black. Our Golden Retriever isn't so sure about all the LOUD cheeping! LOL Chick #4 and #5 are moved into the brooder with the others.

Chick #7 hatched at 9:00am, and once again another black! Chick #6 transferred to the brooder with his or her "siblings". And at 10:00am, Chick #8 joined us. ANOTHER black. 6 blacks and 2 yellow/blacks.  4 eggs left, 1 pipped. Wonder if the other 3 un-pipped eggs will hatch?

Day 21

We're still waiting our Chick #9. It was one of the first to pip, but has not made any progress in almost 24 hours. (It's now 3:15pm.) I started chipping around the top (without breaking the membrane covering the chick). This is what the chick would do if it could. It's cheeping weakly and moving a little. My kids know from our first hatching that weaker chicks sometimes don't make it. (The other 3 eggs were not fertile.)

But Chick #9, a black and white, is a strong one! After I cracked the shell all the way around and removed the inner membrane and slid it partially out 2 hours later, it gave one big, exhausted push to finish the process, and soon joined it's 8 buddies in the brooder!

The 3 Colors: Black (with Tan or White), Brown (with Black and White) and Yellow (with Brown)

Some of the Baby Chicks in the Brooder

Anxiously waiting...

Our 4 little chicken eggs have been incubating for 16 days now. Inside the incubator, temperatures have been averaging 99.9-100.1 degrees and humidity levels have been between 45-55%. Near perfect for our (hopefully) developing chicks! We opted NOT to candle them, hoping that they're fertilized and developing. (My Mom's chicks came from the same flock and 80% of her eggs were fertilized.) The eggs feel heavier...Only 5 more days to hatch!

Oh, candling? A candler can be a simple tool (with a 1" diameter circle out of out a side and a BRIGHT flashlight shining through) to see inside a developing egg. Candling is usually done to see if the egg is fertile AND to check to see if the animal seems to be healthy and developing normally. We watched this COOL YouTube video of a 8-10 day chick MOVING inside the egg!

We've been watching You Tube chick hatching videos too, which led to watching other egg hatching videos like ducks, Robins, turtles, owls, and snakes. We especially liked watching the ducks. Perhaps incubating ducks next spring for a project?

In preparation, we visited the hardware store for supplies and put together a simple brooder - a chick coop - from a clear plastic box (so we can watch them easier), a lid with the middle cut out and wire attached over the hole, bedding, a couple of bricks, a heating lamp, and a plastic feeder and water dish.

Our Brooder Without Bedding and Bricks to Raise Water

Testing the Temperature Inside the Brooder

I'm a bit apprehensive. We've incubated chick eggs twice before. And both times resulted in no chicks. My Mom thinks our humidity levels were too low, especially the last few days when humidity needs to be raised to 85%. We didn't monitor humidity so closely the first 2 clutches. The kids are optimistic that we'll end up with 4 cheeping, fuzzies by the end of the week. Not long to wait now!