Chicks and Dinosaurs!

All thirteen chicks are still healthy and thriving!

 They are sociable and friendly, and have been dressing up as dinosaurs. Did you know that chickens are close relatives of Tyrannosaurus Rex? Read more about that here at the Smithsonian. 

Day 21! All Eggs Hatched!

Day 21!    Welcome, Flynn chicks!

    All 13 of the eggs hatched overnight, and everyone looks healthy.

Such a lot of excitement this morning to see and hear them! 

We will continue to live stream the cuddly naps and adorable antics for the rest of the day at the video link below!

Incubation, day 20! LIVE HATCH CAM BEGINS

This morning, the chicks made their very first peeps, still inside their shells! Now, officially, they don't hatch until day 21, but nature doesn't always keep a reliable schedule, and three of them have begun to crack their shells this morning!  

Introducing, the live stream!

Baby chicks begin to peep while they are in their shells. The first pip that they make with their egg tooth is through the membrane separating them from the air cell, and then they draw their first breath and can peep!  It may be a while until we see the chicks, but we can begin to watch the hatching eggs today. 

It's a big, tiring job to come out. They pip in a circle, all the way around the circumference of the egg, and then push the pieces apart.  They have to be healthy enough to do it themselves- no "helping" from the humans. Wish them luck!  

Incubation, day 18!

This is a big day! We are preparing for the hatching of the Flynn chicks!

 Today, we increase the temperature just a hair, increase the humidity, and stop turning the eggs. Inside the incubator, we have also put down a nonslip mat to make the first steps of the chicks as stable as possible- their bodies are so delicate, it is easy for them to accidentally slip, splay their legs, and permanently damage their feet and tendons. Does that liner look familiar?  It's pretty much the same as the nonslip material you might find under a carpet.

We also increase the ventilation, opening a couple of air holes in the top of the incubator. And now, the wait begins!

Waiting is hard!  But we hope you are as excited as we are!

Incubation, days 16-17!

The chickens are getting their bodies in position for hatching, and are turning their beaks towards the air cell.There is less fluid around the chick embryo now. This is the last day for turning the eggs. 

Here is a video of an egg candled at day sixteen. The majority of the egg is dark as the embryo is filling the space. You can really see the chick inside moving quite a bit on the end near the air cell. The beak is almost a quarter of an inch long. The eggs are really entering the home stretch!

Incubation, day 15!

Incubation, day 15! 

Today, the Flynn chick embryos are in position to be born, having turned their bodies inside of the shell towards the larger end of the egg. The larger end is where the air cell forms, which they will use to breathe in the days before they come out. Here is an awesome illustrated video of development from days 1-21.

Incubation, days 13 and 14!

Incubation, days 13 and 14!

So,  while this isn't a weather blog, it snowed today?! Blech. Hence my decision to lighten things up and begin with some chicken jokes.

Q: What do you call a rooster who wakes you up at the same time every morning?

A:  An alarm cluck!

Q: Why did the chicken cross the road, roll in the mud and cross the road again?

 A: Because he was a dirty double-crosser!

Now for the science!

Oh, how they've grown! It's getting harder to see little details when candling the eggs, because the embryo is taking up much more space. These eggs are only one week away from their hatch date!

 The air cell is getting bigger. The embryo's body is now starting to grow downy feathers everywhere. The eyes are completely covered now by fully formed eyelids. The bones are beginning to harden. Claws have formed on each toe, and the scales on the legs are starting to overlap.