The chicks are here!!!!

Day 23 (of 21? lol) brought the babies!!!! We had SEVEN chicks born. 1 during the day, 1 in the evening, & the other 5 arrived at night. 

Rob had gone to a meeting at 9PM, I fell asleep putting the little fellas to bed & he woke me up yelling SEVEN!! We have SEVEN!! I was sound asleep so I was really confused, lol!!! 

Here is their first photo: 

And today (day 25), we moved them into their brooder box!! I had to make it because Rob isn't home & they had to be moved. Hopefully I did an ok enough job & they all make it! :) 

It was eventful. The heat lamp was too close so it was really hot! 

Then I attached it to the lamp nearby & melted the box. 😳

But, I finally found the right location! And, we started the move. 

The boys absolutely love this whole process! And I love watching their excitement. ❤️

No names yet! O keeps suggesting names like chocolate & hot fudge sundae so we're waiting...... lol 

Chick Watch 2015

I had started to give up hope yesterday. I rationalized, maybe it wasn't the worst thing in the world if we have a dozen duds? We'd like to sell the house we currently live in & our neighborhood isn't exactly full of people hoping to find an existing/working chicken coop! 

But this morning, we found a surprise! 2 eggs had pipped! And when I checked back, there was a third! I'm not sureif  there are others yet, it's kind of hard to see inside the window & we only have a view from one side. But, here are the beginnings of our babies. ❤️🐓❤️ 

This guy (can't see his number so I don't have anything to call him yet -- this is the egg O saw moving the other day!) is LIVELY!! He was chirping & I started talking to him. That made him go WILD with chirps & start breaking through the shell more. So freaking cool! 

Here's #8 -- this is the egg I swear I saw move the other day but had convinced myself it was all in my head. lol 

And we also have this little fella (can't see his number either). 

And yes, I'm referring to them all as he. I'm a Mom of boys, it's habit! 😂 

Plus, almost all of the hatchlings in our group are turning out to be roosters (there are some hens though!). So, chances are I only birth boys in all ways. lol 

Chicken incubating newbie.

A short rundown of our chicken hatching experience so far -- it's not over yet! I think the actual hatching will be a post in itself. :) 

Day 1 -- LETS DO THIS! So excited!! 

Day 3 -- holy shit, this egg rotating is neverending & time consuming. LOL

Day 8 -- ok, ok, this egg rotating isn't so bad. It's a habit now! 

Day 9 -- should we candle them to see what is actually happening in there?? Rob: 'no, we'll probably burn them or crack their shells, let's just wait!' (so true! lol)

Day 12 -- started to build the chicken coop!! The boys were extremely helpful! 

I think they're pretty excited the chickens won't need the coop for a while though -- they're loving playing in it themselves. lol 

Day 13 -- another shot of our incubating babies. 

Day 16 -- time to read up on what to do next! ❤️

We stop rotating at day 18 & then we wait. ❤️❤️❤️