Final count

So I had the wrong start count, I kept saying we started with 25 eggs but we actually had 30 eggs.  We now have 23 chicks, one chick passed away yesterday.  He was born with deformed feet and was unable to walk.  We broke rule #1 and helped him get out of the shell then kept him as comfortable as we could putting water and food next to him, making sure he was protected from the others and at the perfect temperature.  He fell asleep and didn't wake up.

We also had 6 eggs that did not hatch, we couldn't help ourselves we had to take a look and 2 eggs either were not fertilized or for some reason didn't develop at all.  4 were at various stages of development but were dead. 

We loaded the incubator with 48 new eggs and have the chicks moved to a larger home.  Tried to do another video, unfortunately you can hear the TV in the background better then the chicks chatting.  They were more interested in what I was doing though then showing off their vocal abilities.

This little brown guy is nosey and needs to know what is going on at all times!  When I look into the box he is the first one to stand up and see what I need.  Therefore he also gets lots of mommy kisses...

This is as many as I could get in one photo.  they are always on the move and no one will smile for the camera...

And here are a few other photos showing some of the babies...

 

The one exiting photo right here is a scratcher.  She really can dig down looking for bugs!

These guys are hanging out under the red heat lamp so the photo color is a little strange.  All the light colored ones are light yellow.

21 more days and we should have more chicks.  Hopefully Shane will get a new chicken coop built before I go nuts with this many chicks in the house.  At least we should have one chicken dinner a week taken care of!  I would like to raise a couple to laying age and see what the eggs look like.  Not 100% sure about Little Roo and if we see the color of eggs one of the white babies lay we will have an idea what genes Roo has.

Oh and the end of February I am getting some pure chicks from the feed store and I have hopes of getting a pure rooster (fingers crossed for an Americana which lays green eggs).  We are up to 9 or so eggs a day again although some days we have been getting as many as 12.  Queenie is giving an egg a day so she is a good one to breed for raising to be new laying hens.