Chick Hatching Success!!!

Curious chicks left their warmer to check out the basement.

After playing "chicken midwife' for the past three days, The Squawk added 13 hens (hopefully hens!) to the flock. The littles are kept in an enclosed playpen in my basement for the first three weeks until they go outside to my "baby coop". Chicks are kept underneath a warmer until their baby fluff falls out and is replaced with their first set of feathers.

Because it's not every day you get to see something being born, I always invite a ton of kids to my house for the watch party...which means no one gets a lot of sleep during the three days it takes for the eggs to hatch. My kids and their friends woke up (they said!) every hour to see if another chick hatched.

Unlike human birth, chick hatching works like clockwork and is quite predictable. Days 1-21 is the incubation period and Days 22-25 are the hatching days. Most of my chicks hatched on Day 2 of the hatching days.

Day 3 is my least favorite day of hatching...it's very sad. Chicks must get themselves out of the eggs, I cannot help. It's their first step of survival. If they aren't strong enough to break through the shell, they wil not be strong enough to survive outside the shell. Also, pulling them out of the shell will cause the umbilical cord to break away from their body, causing them to bleed out.

My chick brooder-a place to keep the chicks safe, warm, and well fed. This allows me to play "momma" a bit easier.

Out of the 17 eggs that had babies growing inside of them, 13 chicks were able to successfully open their eggs to life. Four of the other chicks pecked holes in their eggs (called pipping), but they were not strong enough to crack the shell enough to live.

After their movement stopped, I knew those babies didn't survive the hatching....for some reason or another. Maybe they were underdeveloped, maybe the developed without all their body parts, maybe the cord got wrapped around them in an unusual way, I'm not sure.

The Professional Chicken Sitters

The 13 chicks in my basement are doing great! They learned how to eat and drink out of the food and water bins. They cuddle together underneath the warmer. As I'm typing this post all the way upstairs in my bedroom, I hear them chirp in the basement...it's such a sweet sound.

Thankfully, while I'm not watching the babies, I have two very professional chicken sitters who take their job VERY seriously, haha!

Can you tell which egg has the double yolk? One of the kids this weekend said a double yolker looks like an eggy eight.

Just For Funzies.....

I'm on a Keto diet right now and have been eating tons of eggs. After hardboiling a dozen eggs this week, I happened to cut open a double yolker!!! I took a picture to share with you.

Thanks for reading my Country Squawk,

Kelly

PS I bought this deviled egg holder at Hobby Lobby. I may have jumped up and down like a little girl when I found it....it's sooooo cute! Love the chicken in the middle!