Baby Chickens

Here are our baby chickens.  I made them a temporary home in a box with a light for heat and some food and water.  We put small rocks in the water bowl because apparently they can drown if you don't.  So, they just drink around the rocks.  They seem to like it in their box :)  The pics aren't that great because I couldn't figure out what setting to use on my camera...with the light already in their box it just wasn't working...sorry.  

The one closest to the water was taking a drink :)

The boys love watching them.  They sit by the box a lot!  We'll be taking the chicks back to the farm this weekend.  As much as I'd love to raise chickens, now's just not the time.  I'm so glad we did this and that it worked.  And now that we own an incubator, I'm sure we'll do it again someday :)

They Hatched!!

Our chicks finally hatched!  Well three of them anyways.  The rest didn't make it...even the one that had a small crack on Tuesday morning.  

Chaycers listening to them chirp while still in their eggs...

They chirped!!

Vann talking to the eggs.  They would chirp if you talked to them :)

After all my daycare kiddos got picked up, I was switching some laundry and then headed back upstairs to get dinner started.  Thanks goodness I stopped at the incubator to take a peek because that's when I noticed the first egg hatching.  I quickly called the boys over to watch.  I was so happy they got to see the entire process.  And they thought it was pretty neat!  After the first chick came out another egg started hatching too.  So, they got to see two eggs hatch...awesome!  The third egg didn't hatch till later that night...around midnight.  Chris and I were glued to the incubator for like an hour waiting for the little chick to come out.  Baby Ash woke up right when he was getting ready to come out so, I didn't get to see him, but Chris did which was great.  We all got to see a little baby chick magic happen!

Vann, Kenny and Chayce watching the eggs hatch

The first egg hatching...

Almost out!

The second chick

The first chick...no he's not dead!

They loved watching them!

After they hatched they were so funny to watch.  They would hobble around falling over each other and the eggs and then suddenly be so tired they'd lay down to rest...then pop back up and do it again.  It was so cute!  

Chirping

The eggs are chirping!!!  I heard them in the middle of the night last night while I was up feeding Ash.  I was so tired my first thought was, 'oh crap, we have a bird in the house!'  But once I woke up a little more I figured out what it really was...our little chicks!  Sooo exciting!!  And one egg has a small crack this morning!  Others may have cracks that we can't see because of the way they're gathered together.  But I'm thinking we may have some baby chicks hatch later today...yay!!  I guess I just need to be more patient with my lil' chicks.  They'll come out when they're good and ready :)

Picnic Lunch

It was such a nice day here today!  Finally!  We made sure to spend as much of it outside as possible while still getting our school work and housework done.  I love picnics and it's always a fun treat for the kids to eat lunch outside.  We invited the neighbor kids too...it was fun!

Chayce was loving on Ash this afternoon.  He was pretty proud of himself for helping him up into his arms.  Even wanted me to take a picture of them :)  It's with my phone so, it's not super clear...

One more pose with Baby Ash :)

The boys were trying to stack these puzzle pieces and Vann finally got 'er done!  He was happy about it :)

So, no chicken egg action today.  If they're moving, they only do it when I'm not looking.  If they don't start hatching by tomorrow, I'm thinking they're just not going to which will be super sad.  One more day...

  

There's Still Hope!

Chris was taking a look at the chicken eggs a little bit ago and guess what?!?!  He saw a couple of them move!!  That makes me sooo happy!  So, then I started looking at them a bit closer.  Before I was just looking for cracked shells.  But when he said he saw them move I noticed that one of the eggs is 'dot' up and when I turned them all the last time they were all 'x' up...so he must've rolled.  And another one of the eggs is right up against the wall of the incubator and I know I didn't put him there...so he rolled too!  So exciting!!  I stared at them for awhile and of course they didn't move for me, but I'll keep checking on them so, hopefully I'll get a little wiggle.  

Nervous

It's Day 21 and my chicken eggs aren't doing anything.  I keep peeking in at them through the windows hoping one of them has started pecking through the shell, but nothing.  I'm nervous and sad that none of them made it.  Which would be a big, huge bummer.  Ugh.  I really feel like I did everything right.  Unless my thermometer was off a bit.  I just used the one that came with the incubator.  I don't know.  Some people said they may not start hatching till Day 23 so, I'll wait a few more days and hope that at least one little chick made it.

It's Almost Time...

Day 18...today is the last day I have to turn our chicken eggs.  After I turn them tonight, the incubator will stay closed until they hatch...around day 21.  I feel a bit like I think I would've felt had I not found out the sex of all our children...ok I'm exaggerating a little, but I am nervous.  How many will hatch?  Will they all be healthy?  How many won't hatch?  What if none of them hatch?  That would mean I'm the worst mother hen ever.  I tried really hard to keep their temp and humidity at the correct levels.  I turned them 3 times a day...okay some days I only turned them twice...but in all fairness I did read a few websites that said 2 times was enough...most days though, 3 times.  I'm just dying to know how many little chicks we're going to have. Three more days...then we'll know.  Until then, I'm going to start getting their temporary home ready.  So, hopefully I'll be posting some cute pics of our chicks pecking their way out of their shells very soon!

Chicken Eggs

I've got some new babies in the house to take care of...our chicken eggs!  I'm so excited to be doing this with the boys.  I remember hatching some when I was little.  Such a fun thing for the boys to get to see.  We picked the eggs up on Monday and we put them in our already warmed up incubator.  So, we should have some baby chicks in about 3 weeks!  I'm sure you're thinking...what is she going to do with all the baby chicks??  Once they're hatched, we take them back to the farm where the eggs came from and they'll raise them there.  Cool, right?!  Once they start hatching I'll be sure to post more pictures.  Until then, I'll be keeping a close eye on the temp and humidity in the incubator and turning them 3 times a day so, hopefully they'll all grow into baby chicks!