Welcome to our new Hatching Gallery page. Pictured here now is our very first hatch ever! These chicks were hatched in a Lyon TX-6 Incubator. We have 8 chicks out of 17 fertile eggs set. The sire of all of these is Thunder our Silver Laced Wyandotte rooster. The mothers are hens from the original flock of layers. Non-contributing hens are Scaredy, S'Mores, and Lace. The first pip (pictured above, pip circled) happened on Thursday May 7, 2009. Our first chick appeared on the scene on May 8. Nearly all the chicks had hatched by 10pm on May 8 except for the chick we had to help out of the shell.
Pictured above is the very first chick out while "she" was still wet from hatching.
Pictured above is the second chick on the scene. In the first pic (left) she had just pulled her head free from the egg, in the second pic (right) "she" was still wet just after kicking free of her shell.
Right is chick #4 all dry still in the incubator.
Left is the first four chicks after their transfer to a temporary sectioned off corner of brooder 1.
Pictured above is chicks #5, #6, and #7 hangin' in the incubator, visiting with me.
Right is chick #8 who had to be rescued from "her" shell. A part of the membrane had stuck to her and she wasn't able to turn in the shell. I left her alone to hatch for 36 hours but when "she" still wasn't out I went ahead and helped. It was then that I found she was truly stuck. "She" was weaker than the other chicks from "her" long struggle and passed a few days after hatch. RIP "Bounce"
