my chicks are hatching! The eggs are "talking" to me!

Okay, I know there's that saying about not counting your chickens ... but it's close enough to hatch day that I'll post this.

I've been incubating some eggs from rare chicken breeds in my office at work, using a small portable incubator. (By the way, if you're ever inclined to try this, splurge on the type that turns the eggs automatically. It is well worth the extra $ because you won't have to come rushing back every few hours to turn them manually -- and also you won't have to open the incubator as much so the temperature and relative humidity (RH) won't be as prone to fluctuations.)

Chickens take about 21 days to hatch, but this can vary a bit depending on temperature and how old the eggs are when you start to incubate them. By my calculations, Friday is the best guess for this -- so I stopped turning the eggs on Wednesday so the chicks would be able to get their bearings and turn around to face the big end of the egg. (This is the easiest end to exit from, and there's also a handy air pocket for them to breathe ... you've probably noticed this when cooking eggs.) I also misted the eggs with warm water, to increase the humidity -- this makes it a more comfortable transition for the chicks once they start breathing "outside" air.

I was "candling" the eggs earlier this afternoon to remove any duds -- holding them up to a strong light to see through the shells. By this stage, the viable ones will look opaque because the chick will have grown so large, while the infertiles will still be clear. I found a couple of those -- it's just as well that George W. Bush didn't wander past and subject me to temptation, because after 20 days at 98 F they are likely in far worse shape than the one thrown at him in Moore's movie!

Midway through the clutch, one of the eggs began squeaking and chirping, as the chick inside woke up and started going, "Where am I? What am I doing here?" That really cheered me up, since I've been kind of down since the election. Loud chirps mean the chick is likely strong, and has punctured the membrane and is breathing from that air space. (Only a very small percentage of the chicks I've hatched have not made it out, after reaching that stage.)

I checked the eggs again a few minutes ago, and the chick has managed to break through the eggshell. It could take anywhere from 2 to 24 hours to get out -- but yes, it has an "exit strategy"!

Is it any wonder that the Democrats once had a rooster as the party symbol? This is a pretty amazing physical feat -- kind of like getting out of a sealed room by head-butting a large hole through a plate-glass window (from a kneeling position with your hands tied behind your back). Humans doesn't have to worry about this at birth, because our moms do most of the work.


More later as events unfold!



Speckled Sussex chick photo, from feathersite.com :



http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGP/Sussex/BRKSussex.html#SpSChix

eggs. Then too, they were only here a week and a half or so.

Good luck with your baby birdies!

------------------------------------------------------
Fight the fraud; fund the recount!
http://timeforachange.bluelemur.com/electionreform.htm

and congratulations. I hope to do some of this once I am living on my farm (next year I hope). Let us know how they do.

It's sometimes is slow to load-but worth the wait :)

http://www.iloveegg.com/index.asp