Sunday, April 29, 2007


For your viewing pleasure, a few pictures of the chicks as they were hatching out this afternoon. Because it can take up to 24 hours between the first and last egg, and because there are still several eggs left that have yet to crack open, I'll be leaving the contest open until this evening. Tomorrow's post will give you the total count.


A new chick emerges from it's egg while it's sibling looks on.

It takes several hours for a newborn chick to go from slimey to fluffy.



One of the new black chicks

If you've ever wondered how newborn chicks can be shipped at a day old, spending hours in a box without food or water, it's because they have consumed the yolk of the egg prior to hatching. They don't need food for the first 24 hours. Too bad our own babies aren't like that, eh? Can you imagine getting a nice, long nap after you've struggled with labor for hours and hours, with no midnight or 2 am feeding to interupt you? Some days I think perhaps chickens are a little brighter than we give them credit for.


If you take a look at the middle picture, you'll see the egg on the bottom right has a crack in it. Again, another small sign that perhaps chickens are superior to humans. Not only does the mother hen not have to feed her young 'uns that first 24 hours, but she never had to go through labor! These little chicks have spent hours pecking away at their shells in an effort to come into this world. And their mother is happily setting in a nest of clean hay without a single contraction.


Before the eggs begin to hatch, you can hear the chicks peeping. By the time City Boy came home from work yesterday, they were going pretty good! When I got up this morning, there was one wet black chick. The last chick to hatch was a few hours ago. It's not looking promising for a 100% hatch rate, as we're not hearing peeping from any of the remaining eggs. But you can never tell.


Here's the thing I find interesting about this hatch; all of the eggs were blue. They all were layed by blue (black) hens. We've got three roosters; two of which are blue. So how many blue chicks have we got? Only half of what has hatched! Since I'm clueless on sexing chickens, I'll just have to wait for them to get a bit older before I can tell which ones are hens. I'll be keeping the blue hens to add to the flock and selling the lighter colored ones at the farmer's market. I know there were a couple of you interested in getting some chicks; there just aren't enough of them to keep themselves warm during shipping with this hatch. Perhaps a bit later, when the weather perks up a bit?


Now, Darling got some short videos, but will have to wait until tomorrow, along with the final head count!




14 comments:

david santos said...

I love your work, is very nice, thank you

Anonymous said...

Aren't they adorable? I love chickens. The most my parents had, at one time, was 75.

Kim Campbell said...

They are soo cute. I especially like the black one.

Lady Of Chaos said...

I say that 12 will hatch. I love the little chicks, they are so cute to watch. My daughter carries them around in her pocket and plays with them all the time. We have some very friendly chickens here.

ShabbyInTheCity said...

Reminds me of a scene in the movie Fly Away Home....have you seen it?

Kahshe Cottager said...

I am fascinated with the blue eggs and blue chickens! I hope you continue to post pictures of the chicks as they fluff up!

BTW ... I am not sure that laying an egg is any easier than birthing a baby!! I only had one baby at a time, how many eggs do the chickens lay in a day/week/month?? (City girl question I know!)

Tracey said...

LOL, KC...you could be right. Hens lay 5-6 eggs per week. Some of mine are slackers, though, and don't give me that many. I don't know what the pain level is, but I can tell you they pop the eggs out much quicker than we do babies. In fact, most of the animals appear to have a far easier time of it than I ever did =)

Shabby, yes, I have seen Fly Away Home. Terrific movie! Chickens don't bond quite that well, but some of them can become friendly.

Rachel said...

They are so cute...once they are out of the shell and all clean that is!!!

BOSSY said...

The yolk always fills Bossy up as well.

Dixie said...

Love the pics!

Mrs Pretzel said...

SO COOL, Tracy! I love it! They are so wet and ugly they are CUTE!

vanishingword said...

linking.

vanishingword said...

How about a name the chick competition?

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