12 days old

Wow! lots of changes in the last week! The small sprouts of feathers have given way to unmistakable perfectly shapen feathers. They have finally figured out how to use them also as they have begun to jump and flap their wings to get them high enough to reach the top edge of their home. They also do this on cue :-) All it takes is some sweet, encouraging, voice inflections and they will land right in the palm of our hands! This has brought about many squeals and giggles!

Almost 1 week old

The chicks are almost one week old and have really begun to change. The once fluffy balls have begun to sprout tiny feathers with various shades of white, cream, gray and black. They have developed their own personalities and are quite mesmorizing to watch and handle. We took them outside for the first time and put them in a small area (which Jennifer constructed) for a short amount of time to slowly get them used to the outdoors. They are so vocal when they get cold...they start peeping VERY loudly and are quite demanding. As soon as they are placed under the light, they start making a VERY sweet peep! :-) If they are too hot, they will open their beaks slightly almost as if to pant. This is how we can tell if they are just the right temperature.

Setting up their home

We are using a large rubbermaid container with a shallow layer of pine chips (which are very soft) for them to live in for the next couple of weeks, when they will probably outgrow it. We placed a basket on one side with an area cut large enough for them to fit into to nest. We placed a heating pad underneath this area of the containter and then put a clamping lamp with a 72 watt bulb about 18 inches above them on the other side.

Introduction to food and water

Because these chicks are being raised by humans and not a mother hen :-), we had to introduce each chick, one by one to the water and food just like their mother would if she were raising them.

A few hours old

It's amazing how fluffy and vigorous these little ones have gotten just within a few hours!

Nine chicks are here!

We have nine chicks!! Five made it out before 8pm, the other 4 struggled and needed a little help. However, all are doing good and are vigorous and responsive...did I mention cute and soft :-) There are two others that have not cracked at all. One of them doesn't appear to have a developing chick when candled. The other one may have expired, but just in case I am giving it one more day in the incubator.

One...Two...Three Chicks!

Three out of the eleven eggs have hatched so far and six others have cracks! It's incredible to hear chicks peeping inside of the egg before they break through! This is amazing!

Exciting News!

Two of the eggs have tiny cracks in the side of them!! We read that once this happens, it will take only a few hours to break through the shell! We'll keep you posted!

Day 20

For the past two days, the themometer has been falling off of the eggs! I wondered at first whether or not the incubator was getting bumped, but soon realized as I moved the thermometer back on the eggs yesterday morning, that it was the chicks inside of the eggs that were moving the thermometer!!! They have been wiggling inside of their eggs, so much that the thermometer was falling to the floor of the incubator!! This was so amazing to watch, knowing that there is a small, living chick inside!!

Day 18

This is the final evening that we turned the eggs, to allow the chicks to get in their own hatching position. This was exciting, as it was the last time that we were able to candle them! Most of the egg space was now filled with a large dark area, which is the chicks. The air pocket is much larger than when we began. After my first experience with eliminating eggs, I have one, possibly two others that may not make it. However, I am not about to check just yet. :-) I am going to give them all until 22 days to hatch. After that, any remaining unhatched eggs will be eliminated.

This is a process

There are several ways to make an egg candler. We made our own out of a shoe box with a lid. We cut out one hole on each side of the box. A larger one that we were able to get a flashlight through, and on the other side, a smaller one that the egg was placed on to view the contents inside.
For the next couple of weeks, we continued to monitor the eggs. We turned them three times a day; made sure the water levels were full, to increase the humidity; and candled them on a regular basis. It was AMAZING to see the developing chick!! On different occasions, we saw what we think was an eye, leg, and possibly a beak through the light of a flashlight beam. The most exciting however, was when they sqirmed around inside! Which they did quite often! This was always followed by lots of high-pitched squeals and giggling :-)

Another learning experience

At 7 days, we candled the eggs. We were in awe to see that the majority of them had developing fetuses!! We determined that three had not made it, as there was no sign of development, so we opened them to see what they looked like inside. Here is what we found. Two of the three eggs had large blood rings in the center of the yolk, which was a sign of an early termination. After we opened the third one, we realized that it was still alive, and we witnessed a small, incredible, amazing, heart beating. We were devistated!! I think we cried most of the day, hence why there are not any photos of this particular experience. :-(

A learning experience

The first night we had the eggs, we had a problem with the temperature. It had been running lower than anticipated, mainly because of our estimate (the wood was slightly larger than the egg) So I adjusted it ever so slightly. Here is an entry that I made the first night:

"I received the eggs yesterday afternoon and let them rest to room temp as instructed. I put them in the incubator at 8pm and continued to check them, slowly adjusting the temperature because it had been running low (around 85-90 degrees) I'm sure that this is due to the change of position of the thermometer in the incubator. It was at 99.5 degrees when I went to bed at 11pm. I woke up at 3:30am to check on them and found the tempurature to be between 102-105 degrees (I can't say exactly, as the thermometer that came with the unit isn't precisely detailed--only estimated by 10ths. I immediately opened the incubator for short periods of time until the temperature had reached 99.5 again, and decreased the temperature. I continued to monitor them every two hours and it has remained constant. However, I'm worried because I was reading about temperature changes this morning and ran accross this. On the University of Missouri extension page it reads: "Temperature too high. Younger embryos are especially susceptible to high temperatures because the upper lethal limit is very close to the optimum incubating temperature. Operating the incubator at 105 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes will seriously affect, if not kill, the embryos. High temperature will lead to nervous problems, heart and circulatory problems, and kidney problems and will cause the embryonic membranes to dry out too soon. Chicks that hatch may have clubbed, wiry down and an unsteady gait." (http://extension.missouri.edu/xplor/agguides/poultry/g08353.htm)I'm just sick about the temperature increase! I don't know exactly how long it was increased or exactly what temperature it was or remained at while I slept.

I felt awful about this and don't know quite what to do...should I discontinue the hatch? Should I monitor them? I needed to pray about this.

I decided to continue the hatch, despite the rising temperature spike and continue to monitor them. If after 7 days, I saw nothing when we candled them, then I would start over.
Here is a summary of the developing embryo. Courtesy of the University of Missouri extension. You can visit their website at: http://extension.missouri.edu/xplor/agguides/poultry/g08353.htm
Events in embryonic development of the chicken egg.
Before egg laying
FertilizationDivision and growth of living cells. Segregation of cells into groups of special function (tissues).
Between laying and incubation
No-growth stage of inactive embryonic life. (50,000 to 80,000 cells)
During incubation
Day 1
16 hours
First sign of resemblance to a chick embryo
18 hours
Appearance of alimentary tract
20 hours
Appearance of vertebral column
21 hours
Beginning of formation of nervous system
22 hours
Beginning of formation of head
24 hours
Beginning of formation of the eye
Day 2
25 hours
Beginning of formation of heart
35 hours
Beginning of formation of ear
42 hours
Heart begins to beat
Day 3
60 hours
Beginning of formation of nose
62 hours
Beginning of formation of legs
64 hours
Beginning of formation of wings
Day 4
Beginning of formation of tongue
Day 5
Beginning of formation of permanent organs and differentiation of sex; Aortic structure begins forming and thickening
Day 6
Beginning of formation of beak
Day 8
Beginning of formation of feathers
Day 10
Beginning of hardening of beak
Day 13
Appearance of scales and claws
Day 14
Embryo gets into position to break the shell
Day 16
Scales, claws, and beak become firm
Day 17
Beak turns toward air cell
Day 19
Yolk begins to enter body cavity
Day 20
Yolk sac completely drawn into body cavity.Embryo occupies practically all the space within the egg except the air cell
Day 21
Hatching of chick

Arrival of the eggs!!

We were soooo excited to get the eggs in the mail!! We talked to our mail carrier ahead of time to make sure that he was extra careful and brought it to our door or left them in the shade if we were not home. This would give us a better chance of a successful hatch. We opened the box and found that they were packaged extremely well with lots of packaging to cushion them. There are 14 eggs. We took them out carefully and layed them on a bath towel for 5 hours to rest undisturbed at room tempurature. If you were to put them in the incubator right away, they may have moisture condensation build up on the egg shell that could lead to disease and reduced hatches. It's critical to slowly bring up the temperature. After time was up, we took a lead pencil and marked the shell with an X on one side and an O for the other side. This way, we would have a way to tell if the egg had been turned. We set up a turning schedule (10am, 4pm, 10pm) based on the times that we were most able to be home. We also each chose an egg and wrote our initials :-)

Incubator Set-Up

We looked at several different models of incubators. There were some that had fans, some that had automatic egg turners, some with digital temperature control and others with even more frills. :-) Since we wanted the full experience and responsibility of monitoring the temperature and humidity, regulating the oxygen supply & turning the eggs, we settled on the little giant incubator with no fan, and no turner. (1st picture) We set up the incubator three days before getting the eggs, as we wanted to get it just right before putting the eggs inside. This was challenging, as the air inside is different temperatures at different levels. Heat rises, which makes the top of the incubator hotter than the bottom. Store-bought eggs are different sizes, so we tried to estimate how large the eggs would be, because the thermometer has to be placed on top of the eggs. We took this estimate and cut a piece of wood the height that we estimated, and kept the thermometer on top of this for two days, fine tuning the temperature, which needs to be a constant 99.5-100 degrees. This was challenging, as the temperature control does not have temperature readings on it. After we got it just right, we made a mark on the control knob and panel with a sharpie, so that we would have a reference point, in case it got bumped. (2nd picture)

Incubating Eggs

Over the past 20 days we have been incubating eggs and wanted to share some of our experiences with you. We are SOOOO excited that tomorrow is the big day when the chicks are supposed to hatch. Here is a recap on what's been going on for the past 20 days.