Naming the chicks

We have named  seven chicks.  Their names are Puck, Pip, Cupcake , Lollipop, Bushley, Henny-Penny, Fog, and Polly the Peanut.

Chicks come in pairs

 
When we got to hold and take a good look at the chicks we realized that the chicks come in pairs!  Two of them have light brown, another two dark brown.  Two of them are gray and the other two speckled gray.  I took some pictures of the chicks with their pair.

The chicks above are the light brown ones.

These chicks are the speckled gray ones.

These chicks are the dark brown ones.

The chicks above are the plain gray ones.

CHICKS HATCHED!!

 Today was the lucky day (it was also Harry Houdini's birthday), eight of the nine eggs hatched (we think that the last one was not fertilized)!  One of them had already hatched and was walking around, we had to help two others out. Then, unfortunately, we had to leave the house for the rest of the day.  When we left there where three hatched and five had pip holes.
When we came back all but one was hatched (which I mentioned earlier).  Most of them were still wet but, all of them were so cute!  Wait, they weren't cute -- they were adorable!  Although we missed the hatching I got some pretty good pictures.

How chicks hatch

Chicks start hatching at around the 21st day of incubating.  They first peck with their egg tooth--a growth on their beak that they use to poke holes-- a pip hole.  After they peck the pip hole they wait from 4-6 hours to get used to breathing air and to rest. Then the chick, that is inside the egg,  pecks in a circle around the egg.  After that they split the egg in half and viola! The chick has hatched!

EGGS HATCHING!!

 Here are some more pictures of the eggs hatching:

Incubating Chicken Eggs

3 weeks ago, my family started incubating chicken eggs.  Some friends lent us an incubator and another family supplied us with eggs. Today, one of the eggs started hatching!  At first it just started moving slightly, then a tiny crack appeared. Every five to ten minutes the crack would grow a little bigger.  We had to keep the water in the incubator full and we had to flip the eggs 2-3 times a day (except the 18th day and later). We put an X on one side of the egg so that we knew what side to turn it to.

The eggs-- we asked for green ones so that once these ones hatch,
they would lay green eggs (assuming we get some hens).

This is our incubator.

This is the heater, I think.

These are the eggs today. Do you see the crack?

Two favorites...

Pumpkin

 I have two favorites, Pumpkin and Coconut, they are also the friendliest.

Coconut

Random video...

Random video of the hens...

I had just given them some food and I had my camera with me so click I took a video.

Cornmeal Mush

This is sort-of like grits.  It tastes delicious with maple syrup.

Cornmeal Mush
 
Ingredients:
1 cups cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups water

Directions
Bring 3 cups of water to a boil.
Combine remaining 1 cup water, corn meal, and salt; pour slowly into boiling water, stirring constantly.
Cook until thickened, stirring frequently.
Cover; continue cooking over low heat 5 minutes, stir.
Serve hot with milk and syrup.