Chicks take 21 days to hatch. I have no idea why 21 days but I was told that hatching would probably happen on that day. My students got to watch the incubator rotate that first week. The next week they were all home as teachers scrambled to figure out online school. The third week I figured out Zoom and we started having daily Zoom meetings. We were also asked to work from home as much as possible. I couldn't do that because I had eggs to watch over. They needed water added to keep the humidity up in the incubator.
On Monday, March 30 I arrived to find one chick had started to peck his way out. My students were so excited to see this on our Zoom meeting.
On Tuesday I arrived to find a chick!
But it wasn't the chick who had started the day before. This one came from our colored egg and he was ready for a playmate.
The chick who had started pecking on Monday was making some progress and I really thought I might be there to see him hatch out. But when I left that day, we still only had the one.
Wednesday when I arrived, he hadn't made any progress and I was very concerned for him. I knew that you shouldn't help a chick out of its shell but it had been 48 hours and you could see he was still alive and breathing. I emailed the lady in charge and asked her what I should do. She said to go ahead and help him and if he didn't make it, he probably wouldn't have anyway.
Two of my coteachers were also in the building and came over to help me. We very carefully pulled the eggshell off to find that the membrane had dried and was stuck to him, keeping his head bent. With some Q-tips and water and tweezers, I dabbed him and tried to pull as much of the membrane off as I could. We had to work quickly so he wouldn't get too cold. We were able to at least get his head unstuck.
I hated to leave him like that. We put him back in the incubator where he just lay there with this legs stretched out and breathing very heavily. I left the bigger one in his box and went home and told my kids that there was a 1% chance he'd be alive when I showed up the next day.
Miracles do happen! That chick was alive and standing. I couldn't believe it. He looked so mangy. I was supposed to send them home with a couple of students on Friday, but I just couldn't send him to anyway looking that way. I decided to take them home for Easter Break instead.
I brought home our one and only pets. We soon discovered that the two could not be in the same "home" together. The bigger one kept pecking at the other and I was afraid he would peck him to death.
So we made another brooder box, and Alex and I gave the smaller one a little sponge bath and got more of the membrane off of him. Ash played dress up with the other one.
The smaller one was very wobbly on his legs and we discovered he wasn't eating and or drinking. So Ash was on a mission to help and would carefully push his head into the water until he figured it out. I warmed up some yogurt and put some food in it. That seemed to help him figure out how to eat.
It's been fun to watch them grow bigger and get actual feathers. We've taken them outside a few times.
Yesterday when we took them out, the smaller one actually stood up for himself and didn't let the bigger one peck at him. So we tried putting them in the same box where they've had a few stand offs but other than that they have done just fine.
I got up this morning to find I still had two little chicks that will soon find a different home this coming week. I don't mind having pets for a little while and then sending them on their way. Ash and Alex might be more heartbroken
I hope I get to hatch chicks again next year, and hopefully with a class to experience it with me this time.
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