Over the last few days there has been some serious noise coming from the incubator that we have nestled in the corner of our bedroom. It has an array of different kinds of eggs in it.
Bob White Quail, Heritage Rhode Island Reds, Old English of all kinds, Pharoah Quail, and the list goes on and on.
There are more than 200 quail eggs alone in the incubator. They are just starting to hatch out tonight so I hope to have some photo's of them. They are so tiny compared to other chicks and it always amazes me that they look way to big to have come from such a small egg.
3 of the 5 Heritage Rhode Island eggs have hatched. This is a wonderful joy for me as Heritage Rhode Island Reds are rare in the United States. I have a beautiful trio (2 hens and 1 rooster) that I paid a pretty good sum of money for so it makes me happy that the eggs are hatching. Even if only the 3 of the hatch that is a pretty good hatch rate. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I have 1 roo and 2 pullets.
So far, the rest of the chicks that are having a noise party are Blue Red Old English, BB Red Old English, and Silver Duckwings. There are quite a few of them and they enjoy making noise.
I love to watch the chicks when they are playing. They use up so much energy so quickly. They often can have a bug in their mouth and be running across the brooder and fall asleep in mid step. They wake up and realize their bug has been stolen. It is as if their reality doesn't grasp the fact that they took a 60 second nap.
The chicks are a joy to watch. I could set for hours and appreciate the playfulness and the excitement that happens inside the brooder.
I must admit that the worst part of hatching chicks is the waiting time it takes to go from egg to chick. The other thing that causes me some anxiety is not being able to tell if they are roosters or pullets for the first few weeks. It is just one of those things that I think about frequently throughout the day. (No I am not sure this is normal behavior outside of obsessive compulsive disorder)
As I close for tonight I will leave you with a photo of the baby chicks that have been hatching.
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