So cute!

All of the chicks are so cute! I have to get a good picture to post. Hopefully this afternoon I will. 

I have been watching over those chicks so closely that it is weird to be at work today! Last night was sad. We lost a another one. She was the last hatch so far. She was tiny and we called her Lil' Runt. She must have hatched before she was ready and used up all of her energy running around. We loved you Lil' Runt. I had big hopes for you. Now you can run around in chicky heaven.

Wuella is hanging in there. She is one tough chick! We started force feeding her yesterday. She seems to take it well. I fed her before coming to work today and will go home to feed her again at lunch. She amazes me. As long as she doesn't give up, we won't give up on her. She pulls her legs under her now and can walk a little better. It takes a whole lot of effort though. We are rooting for you little Wuella.

I'll have to get some video of the other chicks running around and eating and drinking. They are so cute! It is amazing the instinct that they have to do all of that. I am so glad for this experience. 

I will say that Wuella is teaching me a lesson. I need to get myself back into the Word of God. I have been slacking. If I don't feed myself, I will not be sustained. We all have issues that keep us from doing this, be it "tired legs", busyness, sickness. Wuella is reminding me of this. If I didn't feed her right now, she wouldn't have a chance. Thank you God for sustaining me and feeding me. Thank you for giving me a chance. I love you Wuella. Hand in there chicky girl. I'll be home to feed you soon! Thank you God for allowing me to take care of Wuella.

Thanks to all for reading and for praying. Keep praying for Wuella! I still have 5 eggs in the incubator. We'll give them one more day to see if they hatch. 

Stay tuned...

We've lost one

I am not sure which one, thankfully not Wuella. I am attached to her now, rooting for her like crazy! I took a peek into the incubator through the window and saw a couple of chicks piled on top of another one. I knew it was gone. She could have been trampled, or just might not have made it. Anyway, surely she is in chicken heaven , where the grass is green and having a good time. We gently and quickly removed her. Dave buried her in a special spot. Hopefully that is the only one that will go down. I guess the sad comes with the joy too. It is still worth it to see all of theses happy little peeps. I think that we will move them to the brooder tonight. I can't take them being in there tomorrow while I am at work. Granted, one could get trampled in there just as easily. God protect my chicky babies!

Stay tuned...

Bock Bocks Everywhere!

Okay, so they aren't everywhere. But currently so many in the incubator that I can't count them through the fogged up windows. The first five are Wuella, Xena, Trace, Atta Girl, and Edith. I lost count and names there after. There are at least 10 counting Wuella.They hatched all day yesterday and all night last night. I was one tired mama hen!

I can't get a picture. The windows are fogged clear over. Believe me, I wish that I could get some. I want to see the little buggers!

Keep praying for our first, Wuella. She is still hanging in there. Her legs haven't corrected yet. I keep telling her that it is okay to have braces because her mommy, myself, did when I was a little baby. She has drank a bit and I think that she ate some accidentally. She doesn't seem to have the energy to peck at food. I want her to make it, so I have been rotating chicks from the incubator into the brooder with her to keep her company(no baby likes to be alone) and to show her how to drink and peck. It is about time to put another one in and switch the current one out. It becomes apparent how little she is and how strong they are after a while. She must take after her namesake Manuel.He is a persistent guy. I couldn't name her Manuel, so Wuella it was. Wuella is tough and hanging in there. I am not going to force feed her. She has to learn to peck.

The others should come out of the incubator in a day or two. I want Wuella to be strong so that she doesn't get trampled on. I might have to make a partition in the incubator for her. We'll see. The constant peeping and raucous sounds that come from the incubator are cute, funny, calming and exciting all at the same time. I can't wait to take them out! 

Stay tuned....

Number Two and Three

Owen stopped by today to Meet Wuella. He enjoyed hearing her peep and try to walk around.

Here is little Wuella all fluffy in the brooder. She is still struggling to walk. She hasn't drank or eaten very much either. We changed her splint from a band-aid to a pipe cleaner. It is more sturdy. If you are the praying type, please pray that she will start walking upright and eating and drinking. She peeps SO loud. I am so glad that she is all fluffy now. Now meet little Wuella.

While Owen was visiting we had a surprise appearance. I had been hearing some chirping and saw a few little beak holes through the incubator windows. We were all checking intermittently. I went in to take a look and there was a chick! Owen named her. We had a couple of suggestions of course. Out of them he chose Xena. We thought it fitting as she just seemed to pop out! Here she is through the window in the incubator. World, meet Xena! She is a blue laced red wyandotte. You can tell that her feathers and beak are lighter that Wuella's.

Shortly after Xena arrived number 3 hatched. Here they both are. It is a little fuzzy but you can see her. She is a blue cuckoo maran. I haven't picked a name for her yet.

Number four is trying to hatch and Xena and number 3 are huddled around her. I am calling them all girls for now. I can only hope! Many others are rolling around and starting to hatch. It is all so exciting. I am getting worn out! We still have a ways to go.

Here is Lleulu checking out Wuella. She is curious about the chicks, but doesn't seem to be hunting them. She has been curled up near the incubator and checking the peeping sounds out. Maybe she will be a good mother hen. 

I will keep you posted as the hatching continues. What a great Memorial Day weekend! Stay tuned...

And the Hatching Begins!

Our first egg started hatching at school on Thursday. We were thrilled to see this little crack in the shell upon arriving at school.

It took the chick a whole day to get to this point, broken half way around the shell. A couple of things to point out. First, we wrote on the shell in marker. Bad idea. The shell is porous and it could have poisoned the chick. Thankfully, it didn't seem to bother this one. Write in pencil on a shell if you have to.  Second, I am not sure what I think about this little incubator. You can't control the temperature or humidity. The humidity is essential to their hatching. I think that this guy was suffering from low humidity.

At the end of the day on Friday we moved the entire incubator holding two unhatched eggs and one hatching egg to my house, their new home. I placed them in my big incubator to join their new brothers and sisters. 

When the chick still hadn't hatched I got worried. It had been many hours, over a a full day. I was afraid of it drying out and running out of energy. Thankfully I heard from a fellow chicken lover and experienced keeper of chickens. He told me that it was time to help it break free. I set up my chicken operating room and got busy. I had to carefully moisten the inside of the shell. Then I had to break away the shell, going around in a circle, just like the chick would have. Here is Dave inspecting the chick and my work.

Here is a close up of the chick still curled up inside. It was the first time that it saw me. "Are you my mother?" This baby chick is a black austrolorp. That is why it has a dark beak and feathers. Many actually hatch dark and grow light feathers later on.

Lleulu was watching the whole time. She didn't seem to mind what was going on.

Finally it came out of the shell. The poor thing was stuck to the membrane. 

I spent the next while slowly moistening and picking off bits of membrane and shell.

I think that I was picking off some shell here. The little peep was exhausted!

Here she is! Still wet, but ready to go. I put her back into the incubator to dry off and peep a lot. Hopefully she will get the other eggs hatching. 

She ended up with the name Wuella, after a student at school that was so thrilled about a baby chick hatching! Now she is dried off and in the brooder. I have to get a photo of her all fluffy. She has been peeping loudly, apparently to a peeping chick inside of a shell, inside of the incubator! We should have more hatching soon. I keep checking and no shells are broken yet.

Little Wuella has another hurdle to cross. She has splayed legs or spraddled legs. This is when a chicken looks like it is doing a split. She wasn't that bad, but couldn't stand on her own and walked like a drunkchicken, like I have ever seen a drunk chicken. We found this web site, followed the instructions and are awaiting the results. She already can sit up better. She should be standing tomorrow! Poor little Wuella. What a tough beginning to life! You'll have some siblings soon enough. Hang in there. 

I will have more to report soon. Stay tuned.... 

Delicious!

Yummy! My first "harvest" this year has started. My sugar snap peas have started to take off! They are blooming and growing peas fast. I only planted a few, enough to snack on while outside. I love them fresh picked! 

I am really writing to share the most delicious recipe with you. It is long and looks complicated, but it isn't. Trust me. It was so yummy! It is for sure going into my rotation, especially for having guests over or taking someone a meal. 

It was in Cooks Illustrated Magazine. They are the people that do America's Test Kitchen on PBS. They try stuff out, figure out the best way to make it and share it with you! Now I am passing it on. Bear with me.... lots of typing ahead.... you can't get this on their website without buying a subscription, so eat up people!

Baked Ziti

serves 8-10(I say 8 adults with a side dish, or 6 with big helpings or seconds)

Note* don't use pre-shredded cheese, it doesn't melt well

1 lb whole milk or 1 %cottage cheese( I picked up 4% off the shelf. It worked great)

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

3 oz grated parmesan (about 1 1/2 cups)

table salt

1 lb ziti or other tubular short pasta( I used penne)

2 tblsp olive oil

5 med garlic cloves, minced or pressed

1  28 oz can tomato sauce

1  14.5 oz can diced tomatoes

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp chopped fresh basil leaves

1 tsp sugar

ground black pepper

3/4 tsp cornstarch

1 cup heavy cream

8 oz low moisture mozzarella, cut into 1/4 inch pieces

Method:

1) Heat oven to 350 degrees with oven rack in middle position. Whisk cottage cheese, eggs, and 1 cup parmesan cheese together. Set aside. Boil water and cook pasta. Do not over cook. 7 minutes is good. Drain, set aside and leave in colander. Do not wash the pot!

2) Meanwhile, heat oil and garlic in 12 inch skillet(or whatever you have), until it becomes fragrant, but not brown(mine browned and tasted fine). Stir in tomato sauce, diced tomatoes and oregano and simmer for 10 minutes or until thickened. Off heat stir in 1/2 cup basil and sugar, then season with salt and pepper.

3) Stir cornstarch into heavy cream in a small bowl. Transfer mixture to the empty pot that you cooked the pasta in. Bring to a simmer and cook until thickened. 3-4 minutes, stirring the whole time! Remove pot from heat and add the cottage cheese mixture, 1 cup of the tomato sauce, 3/4 cup mozzarella . Stir to combine. Add pasta to coat thoroughly.

4) Transfer pasta to 13x9 baking dish(or whatever you have that will hold all of that pasta!) and spread remaining tomato sauce evenly over pasta. Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella and parmesan over the top. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes.

5) Remove foil and continue cooking for another 30 minutes until it is bubbling and brown. Cool for 20 minutes(I let mine sit for 40 and it was just right to eat). Sprinkle with remaining basil and serve!

I think that after you have this you won't go to the trouble of making lasagna again! So good! I can't wait to have leftovers. The flavors are bright and full.

Next time I make it I might try freezing half and serving half. It is too much to make just for the two of us. I might also try jazzing it up. I think that sausage, grated zucchini or mushrooms would be fantastic. Try it with a straight run the first time. You won't be disappointed! Let me know how yours turns out.

P.s.

Update on Potato Bread: it freezes beautifully! Make some!

One down

Upon candling my eggs for the last time I discovered one that I had either misread or missed. It definitely didn't have a baby chick growing. We are down to 17 eggs now. I couldn't see much this time. The eggs are mostly dark, but the air pockets look good. I hope this is a good indication! I could only see a little chick in one or two eggs, the others were too dark. It still amazes me to see those tiny beings moving around and blood vessels pumping inside of an egg!

Oh, I just looked out the window to see a Cardinal feeding it's baby. I knew that I had heard tiny peeps lately. Oh, maybe it was feeding it's mate! Is love in the air? Either way, I love spring time! Soon I will be watching my little chicks eat up. Can't wait. I do hope that they hatch!

Stay tuned... 

The Meetup

The Atlanta Pet Chicken Owners meetup was great! I love meeting fellow chicken lovers and owners. Everyone was so encouraging and helpful. I can't wait to have chickens out of their shells to talk about. 

A meeting is going to be scheduled near Marietta/Smyrna for next month. You know that you want to come meet some chicken loving folks. I am hooked. For sure. I know, you knew that already. I can't stop learning about chickens and talking about them.

I might buy an incubator to rent out to classrooms and home schoolers. Please let me know if you or anyone you know would be interested. I am trying to put out feelers to see if it would be worth it. I think it would be. The miracle of life is amazing to behold.

Yes. Yes, indeed. I will be a proud mama hen. 

Stay tuned....

Egg Update

Isn't that a cool luna moth? I snapped a picture of it on the chicken coop tour.

We are approaching the final countdown. Well, almost. The eggs have one more week to go. The time is flying by. The eggs are looking good. Hopefully I was right in my candling efforts. Today the chicks growing inside of the eggs can hear, have eyelids and are growing feathers. They will spend the next few days growing rapidly!

I have been spending some time reading up on egg development and raising chicks. The public library has been a great resource. I have learned so much, but I know that I still have a long way to go. I am currently reading Living With Chickens. It has some great photos in it and is a quite enjoyable read. I definitely recommend it.

Hopefully tonight I will make it to the local Atlanta Pet Chicken Meetup Group.  I am sure that the people attending will have plenty of info to share with me on how to have a successful hatch and how to care for the new chicks once they do hatch. Getting anxious!

Stay tuned...