Chicks!

After 22 days wait, the chicks started hatching! You read so many contradicting things on the internet and so much information about what can go wrong that I had almost convinced myself that none were going to hatch and I'd have to buy some day-old chicks to sneak into the nest so that the whole project wasn't a failure and so that Lucy the hen didn't feel bad... But finally, they arrived!

Yesterday when we went up there were only three chicks and two of the eggs had cracks where the others were trying to peck their way out. The yellow chick was still a bit wet and sticky so I think it had hatched just before we arrived.

Today when we went up, there were six chicks!  four black, one white and one yellow. Out of seven eggs, (there were eight at the start but one disappeared, I think maybe she ate it!) six hatched so I think we did pretty well.  The other egg I've left in there for another day or so just in case but there are no cracks so I think it's unlikely it will hatch.

We moved the hen and her chicks into a new enclosure under the shelter and at ground level so the chicks cant fall out and although they dont walk about much yet, they are eating chick food and seem quite lively. I can fit four in my two hands easily, they're so tiny!  We got a new water feeder and filled it with small stones before puting water in because I read that they can easily fall in and drown.

Seemingly there's no way of knowing if they are girls or boys until they lay an egg or start cockadoodling so for the meantime they will all be kept together, growing and fattening in their enclosure until we see who's destined for which role in the future.  For now though, we'll just enjoy them as new pets!