Early Chicks!

Well ... yesterday, I got a big surprise. This little guy hatched 3 days early! I was worried the temp. spike the other day was going to cause problems, but this is OK if others hatch soon! He was screaming. He needed some buddies! I unplugged the turner ...

I woke up very early this morning, still dark ... 2 more chickies hatched and were screaming their tiny heads off! I left them to dry for a couple more hours and then moved them in with the older chick. They all cuddled up right away. Hopefully, more will hatch in the next few days. These three are all Easter Eggers.

The oldest chicks have moved out of the house today. I've set them up in a safe cage in the trailer/shed. They'll be hanging out with my old rabbit and elderly doves for a while. I was going to put them outside, but it is still so hot and if the shade moves ... so, will wait another week or so. I have more cages, if I need to seperate them as they get bigger.

It's looking like most of them might be roosters ... but, still a bit early to tell. They are 3½ weeks old. I'm still keeping the first 3 pictured, for sure. I just really like their looks right now, and the first one is the purebred Brahma. I was going to move them all into the kiddie pool and cover with netting, but they are all too tall! Big babies. Even the smallest one.

Starting to like this little one

At 2:30 pm, it looks like a Brahma is trying to hatch in the incubator! It's starting to look like a much better hatch than I expected! Just very spread out ...