This will be a fun post. Spring has sprung, and around here spring means baby chicks, lots of baby chicks. They are so cute that I can't help post pictures.
We started this year with eight baby chicks.These were chicks we bought because we wanted certain breeds. We got a Sultan, a Polish, a Golden Sex Link, and 5 Marans.
We started this year with eight baby chicks.These were chicks we bought because we wanted certain breeds. We got a Sultan, a Polish, a Golden Sex Link, and 5 Marans.
I wanted the Marans because of this......
They lay these beautiful dark brown eggs.
The next chicks that we got were hatched out of our own hens. Our 4h poultry group does an egg to chick program every year. Usually you order fertilized eggs from them and incubate them, but we decided to use our own. It was the first time we had hatched chicks from an incubator.
The next chicks that we got were hatched out of our own hens. Our 4h poultry group does an egg to chick program every year. Usually you order fertilized eggs from them and incubate them, but we decided to use our own. It was the first time we had hatched chicks from an incubator.
The white egg ended up not being fertilized, two never hatched, and the little one was from our bantam hen and was due to hatch a week later. The eggs have to be at the right temp and humidity and turned three times a day.(the X's help you keep track) It's kind of amazing that hens ever hatch live chicks. It's a lot of work!
21 days later and they start to hatch!
It's a long day, but after they dry off and have a chance to rest, the cuteness factor triples.....
And you get the occasional oddball....
During all this eggsitement we discovered that we had a hen that was laying on a nest of eggs in our old chicken tractor. There were so many eggs under her that I had to take some out. The eggs were from a few different hens.( the three that could fly over the fence) I took 20 eggs out from under her (no way she could cover 20 + eggs) and that still left her with 13! I had no idea how long she had been sitting on the eggs.
Meanwhile, our last little chick that we had in the incubator started hatching about a week after his other friends. He/she is out of a bantam hen, which is about half the size of regular chicken so it was super tiny and cute.
We were worried that it'd be too small to put in with the other chicks, but it quickly let everyone know who was boss and has been just fine.
Another week later and I was starting to wonder if the hen on the nest was going to hatch any chicks. Yesterday, I went out and we saw our first peek of little fuzziness. Today, we looked and nine chicks had hatched.
Another week later and I was starting to wonder if the hen on the nest was going to hatch any chicks. Yesterday, I went out and we saw our first peek of little fuzziness. Today, we looked and nine chicks had hatched.
How cute are they? Number of chickens on our place? Crazy amounts!