I've had eggs in the incubator for three weeks now and several have started pipping this morning. Just before dinner the first one hatched. He/she is tired but still flopping about and peeping. I should have several more hatched by the end of the evening. This is my first batch of chicks and it's everything I can do to hold myself back and not help them out of their shells. :)

I know the waiting is terrible. Last year we had eggs to hatch and also chicks delivered by mail. This year we were able to let the mamma's do the work of incubating them and now showing them off in the chicken yard! It's alot of fun. Enjoy!

awesome, thanks for sharing

Awwww it's adorable :D:D:D
I am with you...I would want to give them a hand too LOL

Brings back memories of feeding chicks and chickens. Nothing sweeter than newly hatched chicks!!So soft and pretty.

Aw, so cute. I would be starring at them all day, waiting for more to hatch!

It is so neat, isn't it? I did this in my kdg classroom last month and my asst and I were every bit as excited as my students. The day they started hatching, there were 2 chicks when we went home that day....and 11 more in the incubator the next morning! Wow! We had 2 dozen eggs and 15 hatched. We did lose one chick...it was never able to stand...evidently was a 'special needs' chick. We kept the chicks in the classroom for 4 days and then gave them to one of the Title Reading teachers.

Nice to see. I'm a city girl and love all the wonderful miracles.

What a precious baby. I would find it hard not to help too.

How cute!

How exciting to be able to watch first hand :lol:

Do I dare ask what you are going to do with them ?

Not knowing anything about it, why is it so bad to help the chicks and break a bit more shell for them? To me, it seems that if you helped with breaking more shell, they would arrive less exhausted. Is that a bad thing to do?

In helping the chick you can often times do more damage than good. If the membrane hasn't separated yet like it should, you can cause bleeding. Sometimes you help a chick that otherwise might not have made it, but most times you should just let nature do what it does best. :) Course an incubator isn't "nature" but the type of hens I have won't set a clutch of eggs, it's just been bred out of them. They're egg producing machines, but they have no interest in setting them.

Last night I had 4 chicks that had hatched, this morning there were 10. Sadly there was one that had partially hatched but had died. That's the part I don't like. :(

Course an incubator isn't "nature" but the type of hens I have won't set a clutch of eggs, it's just been bred out of them. They're egg producing machines, but they have no interest in setting them.


sorry - I was reading this one & remembered this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQtkgr3XD8w

I blame not enough sleep & a long-trip weekend..

That hen was a little Silkie. Those hens will set anything (literally, as you saw)! Lots of people use them to set other hens eggs who won't set their own (like my hens). I actually have a couple hens that are half Silkie and half Old English Bantam that a lady gave me. I have to fight them off the eggs I collect every day. I tried letting them set some but I only have one hen house and the other hens kept bothering them in the nest box.

Was checking in on chick production :) I'm afraid to ask...but what are you going to do with them???

The males will grow up and be food. :) The females will grow up and be layers for awhile. When their production starts to decline, they'll be food. It seems brutal but these chickens live a much nicer life before their death than the chickens that are mass raised for the grocery store. Down the road from me are 4 chicken houses that raise chickens for Tyson, KFC, etc. It is horrible how those chickens are treated from day 1 (and what they feed those chickens is big time gross too!). By raising some of my own chickens for eggs and meat, I am not having to buy from an industry that I disagree with, and I'm getting a healthier food product for my family. Same goes for the beef industry (I hate feed lots), I just haven't convinced my husband to put up the fencing for a few steers yet. :)

As soon as I get all the chicks dry and in the brooder I'll take a picture. Thus far I have 15 that hatched, 2 eggs that I don't think will hatch, and the 1 that died earlier. There's a lot of peeping coming from my laundry room. :)

Ugh. I was afraid of that :shock: I think I'm a little too city-fied to eat little eyes that have been looking at me..................

We do the same here. We have a rule that we eat the boys....chickens and rabbits. We also raise a large garden and can alot of veggies and fruit for the winter. The things that are put in store bought food and the way animals are treated is frightening. I dont know about you but my laying hens are about the most spoiled creatures on earth!!

Brings back memories of my youth. Thanks for sharing

Awwww.....

Okay, here they all are fluffed out and making a mess! They're getting interested in their surroundings today and starting to venture around the tank. I think towards the end of this week we'll move them out to the garage in a bigger cage. They'll have their heat lamp still but it's in the low 90's now during the day so I don't think getting cold will be a problem! I'm expecting they'll start to smell a little here in the near future and that's just not an aroma I want floating around the house. :)

Okay they are WAY cute. And you're going to eat them??? Shame on you :)

Well we're not going to eat them tomorrow! :P We'll eat them after they've grown up and aren't cute anymore. :)

Oh. Well, in that case it's okay :) (I still couldn't do it......shoot, I can't even eat the eggs my friends give me from their chickens.....I'm a nutcase, I know :))

You should eat those eggs! They taste way better than store bought, are better for you (more nutrient dense) and they came from chickens that aren't kept in tiny cages 24/7.

I swear I'm not a member of PETA, I eat meat, I just like to know it was treated well before it became food. :)

LOL. I know. You're right. But I swear, my eggs just come from the store where they magically appeared in those styrofoam containers....just like meat magically appears in styrofoam trays wrapped in plastic ~ they were never ever anything before that :)

LOL I understand both sides... Not sure I could eat anything after seeing how cute and tiny it is :shock: But well.. we do need to eat and at least this way you know exactly what you are eating :wink:

Reminds me of the time my Dad brought home ducks... had them in the back yard for a day ( we lived smack fab in the middle of the city !) next day they are gone :cry: Day after that someone brings over a pot of soup :shock: UUHH DAD NO WAY :hunf: LOL