Hatch Day

21 Days 'Til Hatch Day

As I thought about the chickens in my care while pet-sitting, I wondered how many of their eggs might be fertilized. This would be a cold Fall, so the eggs wouldn't hatch naturally. I decided to give the eggs an opportunity at life.

First, I went to Tractor Supply in search of an incubator. The sales associate directed me towards their best product, the Nurture Right 360.

Once home, I gathered as many eggs as I could and placed them in the incubator when it was ready. Most of the eggs had already been outside in the cold for too long by the time I decided to incubate them, so I knew it would be a miracle if even a single egg hatched.

8 Days 'Til Hatch Day

As the days passed, it was tough to say whether any of the chicks were developing. I had done hours of research on the different stages of development, but as this was my first time incubating eggs, I was not yet an expert.

Using the candler (the light that shines into the egg for a better visual), I saw veins growing through some of the eggs; good, this meant life was developing. But then, I saw what looked like blood rings on the eggs- this would mean that the chicks didn't make it. It was too hard for someone of my experience level to know for sure.

4 Days 'Til Hatch Day

I needed to know if any of these chicks would get the chance to see the world from outside of their bubbles, so I experimented again with the candler. The first few eggs were too dark of a brown on the outside; the color impeded my view of anything going on- or not going on- inside of the eggs.

I picked up another. . . and another, until I finally saw a shadow tumbling around the inside of the egg. Life! Hope! With more searching, I found a few more shadows in other eggs. They would just have to hang in there. . .

Hatch Day

I walked into my laundry room to grab who-knows-what, and SURPRISE: a fluffy, yellow, ball of cuteness, staring at me. I welcomed the baby into the world with ridiculous noises and ran to tell my husband. If this was the lone survivor, all of this would still be worth it.

Upon further examination of the eggs hour after hour, I noticed cracks in a second egg, then a third: they were peeping!

I had the incredible opportunity to watch the second and third chicks hatch. They saw me first, making me feel extra special in the eyes of these little creatures.

And just as I grew content with my three, one final chick peeped through the shell. She took about half of a day to get out of her shell and was weaker and smaller than the others. I also got to watch her hatch; after such a long struggle, she freed herself from her shell with one final KICK. And so Baby #4 experienced the world.

7 Days Post Hatch Day

The babies lived happy little lives: eating, napping, and spending some time in the Sun.

But on the seventh day, tragedy struck for Baby #4. She simply wasn't strong enough from the beginning, the poor thing. She passed away, nice and warm in a box full of wood shavings.

I held back tears, as my husband gave her a proper burial and as the rain started to pour. It didn't matter that she was only a chick, because she still mattered. My comfort was that, even though she didn't make it, she at least had a chance at life. She got to taste mash and feel sunshine and do whatever other things chickens like to do, if only for a week. I felt she deserved a name and named her Fall.

35 Days Post Hatch Day

The time came to find my chicks a home. A wonderful woman, G for short, takes in birds and lets them live, free range, on her property. Like me and so many others, she believed that acts of kindness can be extended to even the smallest of creatures. She welcomed my three chicks and is giving them a happy life.

And that's just it, I thought as I left her yard, missing my chicks already. They deserved an opportunity to have a happy life.