Hatch Day!

We've been preparing for today - Day 21 Hatch Day! 

The chicks will need a fancy painted house for sure.

Grandpa and Grandma kindly bought some food for the chicks, but we forgot it last weekend.  Lance picked some up this week. 

Around 5:00 last night I spotted this!

At 5:30 AM this morning, Mara and I saw this.  Not much changed overnight.  A bit disappointing.  But happy we didn't miss its grand entrance!

A couple hours later, this chick decided to finally kick it into high gear.

Meet "Horse!"  He was born at 8:36 AM. 

 

We let Horse dry off and fluff up a bit inside the incubator.

And then we presented him with his newly painted home!

Meet "Cow!"  It starting pipping late morning and busted out at 1:32 PM.  Horse loved having someone to snuggle up with.

 Sad news.  Chick #3 didn't make it past this point.  You can see its beak sticking out of the shell.  You can also see some blood below and some liquid coming out of the shell.  Not sure what happened.  Too humid maybe.  Lance said he gave it a proper burial.  I doubt that.

 

It's been a fun and exciting day!  Mara hasn't gotten brave enough to actually hold a chick herself because she thinks it's going to bite her.  I heard her say several times, "Love you chicks!"  For the first few hours after they were born, they were chirping like crazy.  Micah spent most of the afternoon at the top of the stairs begging to go down saying "Chicks!"  It was adorable. 

 

We're hoping for a couple more by tomorrow, but we're happy we have two.  I'll keep you posted!