All is well. We are growing new feathers and getting to know all the new chicks in the pen. We sleep in a great big pile. If a bug finds it's way into our box we capture it and run around like crazy.
Hope all is well with our foster families. When we finish growing most of our feathers we will head off to the farm.
We had a nice reunion with the chicks and the their "chick mommies & daddies". We shared common joys and tears of this experience. One of the favorite activities was taking the chicks out in the sunshine to see the big wide world.
The chicks will return today for the Reunion Party. Each foster "parent" will share special moments of their experience and show a poster that will be on display at the library for the next several weeks.
We have had some great times watching chicken behavior and bonding with the small dependent balls of fluff. We have had some sad times too. Two chicks died a few days after hatching with no apparent cause. Sometimes the chicks don't develop properly and can not grow. We talked about the possibility that not all chicks that hatch will survive. It is difficult when they become our little friends and we have to deal with loss. For those who have lost pets it is easy to understand the sadness and then acceptance of the reality of nature.
We will celebrate with fun pictures and stories of our fine feathered friends. We hope that our chicks grow into beautiful egg laying hens like Margie and Ginny! We will update you on the next farm they will go to.
100% Hatched! All 41 chicks seem to be doing fine.
Just a great picture!
Four chicks hatched over night. Stay tuned! The remaining five have cracks in them and will probably hatch by the end of the day.
Doug Akers joined us tonight for a Chicken Question and Answer session. Whitey, the Bantam Leghorn rooster, is always the star of the show and anxious to take center stage by crowing in his pen.
The most popular question tonight was, "How do you know the difference between a male and female chicken?" or "How do you tell the difference between the boys and girls? or " What is the difference between a rooster and a hen?". Doug said one of the best ways to tell the difference is by looking at their feathers. The saddle feathers on a rooster will be pointy and the female hen saddle feathers will be more round.
We learned that most hens will lay one egg a day and that the eggs in the grocery store can not hatch into chicks. If an egg is layed by a hen in Whitey's family it will hatch in 21 days. But... chick development does not start until the egg reaches around 100 degrees F. It could sit at room temperature for a week before it starts to grow! Did you know that?
Thank you Doug! You teach us something new every year about our fowl feathered friends!
Funn and Funny were the last of the chicks to go home Wednesday. Funny has a few little black feathers, we wonder if they will continue to grow.
Camile and James went on their new adventure with a very excited family. We are anxious to hear how the siblings enjoy their time in Zionsville.
Chip and Cheep went home after an exciting day. Cheep gave her foster mom a little warm surprise while we were taking this picture. Fortunately, momma remained calm and waited for a tissue to clean up... this is just the beginning of a lot of clean ups;)
Lemon and Cutie are in loving hands. They will have a fun time on Mother's Day in their new home.
Fuzz and Mudbud arrived safe and sound to their new home. It appears they have a cozy spot in the family living room.
Meet Fluffy and Yellow! They went home to some excited hands. The heavy rain this week in Indiana has caused soccor games and practices to be cancelled. This opened the schedule for the evening so Fluffy and Yellow could go home a day early!
Phew! 20 eggs have hatched since Tuesday! We have been busy cleaning cages and getting the little ones ready to go to their new foster homes.
Buttercup and Butterscotch were the last to leave tonight. They were a bit tired and maybe a bit confused after a long day at the library. They visited the Baby Chick classes today and had their little head patted by over 40 children. These little chicks are in great hands and will have nice company for the next 12 days.
Fluffy and Rain have a loving home to go to tonight! We were a bit excited and almost forgot to name the chicks. We are going to keep a close eye on the egg tooth. We want to know when the chick's egg tooth falls off. It is sooooo tiny... I wonder if they will find it and put it under a pillow ;)
Lee and Alex made a quick departure with their foster mom and family. We quickly washed hands, named the chicks, took pictures and learned how to keep the "vent" clean. They went out the door without their ususal big basket of books. I do hope they still will have time to read with all this baby chick care ahead!
What do you think Marg is thinking?
What do you think the children are saying?
Can you see the little suprise Marg had for us when we opened the curtain?
Marg hatched at the library last April. See how she has grown!
Doug arrived around 10 AM with 29 eggs, and 1 chick that hatched early at his house. The brown eggs in the mix must have been laid by one of Doug Akers hens. All the white eggs are from the Purdue Extension Educators Program. They are White Leghorns and become great egg laying chickens. We will have to ask what type of chickens laid the brown eggs.
All 12 peeping eggs have hatched. Doug is on his way to the library with more peeping eggs this morning.
Egg Hatch Update:
Pam reported via email-
"I just got to watch Chick 11 hatch. At 10:39pm its head popped out of the egg and the chick finally got his feet out at 10:46pm. I just had to look one more time before bed and noticed a black spot... so I sat and watched the whole thing before my eyes! I love this!!"
An early morning inspection I noted (at 3:30 AM) egg # 12 remained. It hatched sometime before 6:30 AM.
Baby Chick Classes Today!
Pip and Peep are the last to go home tonight. They both look happy for their new adventure together.
The chicks will be in their foster homes until May 17th.
Egg Hatching Update:
We had two more chicks hatch today making a total of nine chicks... only three more chicks are scheduled to hatch TOMORROW! They are all hatching a day early... but that is ok. The foster parents are more than ready for their excitement to begin!
The last chick hatched at 4:55 PM. It has been a busy afternoon at the library with a lot of little visitors.
Fluff and Fluffy are heading to their new home tonight. They have an interesting box to travel in with many decorations to look at. Such excitement... our hands were shaking!
The day has finally arrived! Butterfinger and Vanilla are going to their new home tonight.
Don't we look EXCITED!
These two chicks have not started eating yet. They have found the food bowl a nice place to sleep. One of the chicks has started to peck at the food but they will not really need food for a while.
Who knows why the chicks do not eat right after hatching?
While we were cleaning out the brood box Kellie called to report the 7th chick hatched at 9:03 AM.
Sara and Pam reported one of these chicks hatched at 9:06 PM. I woke up at 3 AM and could not help but check the camera. Another chick had hatched between 10PM-3AM. Six more to go of this batch. 12 more eggs will be added soon that will be due to hatch the rest of the week.
We left the chicks to manage the library for the night. By morning they will be standing tall and ready to welcome everyone to the library. Their legs are still stretching out after being crunched up in the eggshell for all those days!
We will also have a cage to clean before the others join them.
Next, each chick had to take a taste of water so that they will know where to find it when they get thirsty. They really do not need anything to eat or drink for the first day. They just need to be warm and dry.
If you look really closely you will be able to see the very small "egg tooth". It will stay on for a while. If you can find out how long a baby chick keeps it's egg tooth, email me the answer with the source of your information.
It was fun moving the four chicks to their brood box. It was a rush to get everything set up with a lamp, water, litter, and chick food before the library closed at 5PM. Their little feet are soft and warm and they do not weigh much at all. They felt like warm cotton balls with soft baby feet.
We took the eggshells out of the hatcher and changed the water in the hatcher to keep the humidity up. Two of the shells have pips (cracks) in them. It can take up to a day before they are fully out of their shell. We shall see what will happen tonight!
When I looked early this morning everything looked quiet. I thought we were on schedule for Monday. When I checked at 3PM four chicks had hatched and another is on its way! If you watched them hatch please send me the time? I am sure we have some excited Foster Chick Parents ready to go!
Next, they will have to go to a brood box until they are strong on their legs and eating and drinking a bit! I will make a few calls for pick up tomorrow for sure!
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On Monday the eggs will start hatching! It could very busy!
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