Hatching Day Three

Round about 9pm last night, another chick popped out.  At times the hatching room sounds like someone's driving a squeeky shopping cart round and round.

new baby laying across her sibling's foot

12 pm - the latest fuzzyball is still drying out.  I've removed the partially hatched eggs where it appears that the chicks died in hatching.  It's sad but sometimes these things happen.  Meanwhile I'm leaving the other eggs to see what happens.  The babies will be moved to a separate nursery later this afternoon.

Hatching Day two

Watching the eggs roll round and round, as soft peeping rises from them time-to-time.  The little fuzzball (A13) is still working on keep feet to earth.  Apparently it's a wobbly world.  We're setting up a nursery for the babies, starting inside the house and will gradually move them out as the weather warms.

6am -- the two eggs that had little windows in them last night are still rolling back and forth.  The holes are a little bigger and one can clearly see that the chicks are working to open a bigger door.

12pm -- One of the eggs that started hatching last night looks like the chick may have lost its fight.  Will continue to keep watch.  Meanwhile another egg has a new window in it.

Keeping Watch

2:30 pm -- Was looking at some of the other eggs and wondered when and if they too will hatch.  Back on the 28th, I had candled the eggs with the following results:

A - strong blood vessels otherwise too dark to tell
B - bloodline. infertile (removed)
C - same as A w/ large air sack
D - same as A, lots of whiggling
E - same as D
F - feet can be clearly distinguished
G - too dark to determine
H - same as G
I - can see outline of feet, some whiggling
J - Feet and dark blood vessels
K - light blood vesseling
L - strong blood vessels, prune size shadow (chick?)
M - strong blood vessels, lots of whiggling
N - same as M
O (11) - same as M
P (6) - same as M
Q (DD10) - same as M

A was the first to hatch.  The other three that I can clearly see, I can't see the ID on yet.  (have been told to fuss with the hatchlings while they work their way out.  which also means to keep the lid on and no peeking.)

5 pm - seems to be a lot of discussion taking place among the hatchlings in their shells but I get the sense that they are all having second thoughts.

I Won’t Hatch!
Shel Silverstein
Oh I am chickie who lives in an egg,
But I will not hatch.
The hens they cackle, the roosters all beg,
But I will not hatch, I will not hatch.
For I hear all the talk of pollution and war
As the people all shout and the airplanes roar,
So I’m staying in here where it’s safe and it’s warm,
And I WILL NOT HATCH!
From Shel Silverstein. Where the Sidewak Ends. New York: Harper and Row, 1974. page 127.

Being patient.  It can take 48 hours for a chick to get out of its shell...

Hatching

Last night one of the babies announced herself from the incubator.  Peeking in, all the eggs seem to be sitting in the same spots where I had put them however one in particular has been especially noisy.  I find myself thinking back on one of our cockerels who constantly whined in his little chicky way.  This one however quiets down and cheeps more softly when I talk with it.

6:00 am -- no one has yet come out to play.  It's certainly noisy in there!
6:40 am -- the first little chick has come tumbling out of the egg.  Letting the baby rest while chatting away at the other eggs.  (shell marked A13)
12:00 PM -- two other eggs are making noises while baby (A13) sleeps and dries out

3:00 pm --  A13 is nearly all dry.  If you look over baby's back you'll see where one of the siblings is working its way out into the world.  It's funny to watch an egg suddenly burst into activity, rolling this way and that.
5:45 pm -- hatching is exhausting business. Two more eggs now have little peep holes and periodically have little bills protrude from them for the occupants to loudly announce their presence.  Watching baby has reminded me of when the others came home a little over a year ago.  Chicks have two settings: on & off.  They'll be scurrying around doing their little chicky business when suddenly they'll stop and fall over, sound asleep.  This goes on for about a week or two before they settle down into a reasonable routine.  But in the meantime. . .