The Great Chick Hatch

Several years ago we spent the spring completing a life cycle study of several animals.  We had caterpillars turning to butterflies, tadpoles developing into frogs, and chicks hatching left and right.  It was long enough ago that Sweet One doesn't even remember it, and Little Weed #4 is just nuts over birds of any kind, so I decided that this year we would tackle the chick hatch again. 

Last time...  Look how little Sweet One is!  Awww...

We picked up our 20 eggs from a not-quite-local farm the day before #4's birthday.  #4 set up our little calendar of chick development during incubation and religiously checked to see what our chick might look like each day while it hid inside that egg.

The day we candled the eggs (shone a light through them to see the shadowy forms inside), #4 was as giddy as a proud papa during an ultrasound.  Every time we could see the outline of a chick, he would squeal and bounce up and down.  When we actually saw a chick move within the egg, I thought he might just lose it altogether.  He was definitely an enthusiastic learner. 

  

The next milestone was just prior to hatching.  It was a Wednesday and when I went to turn the eggs, I could hear chirping inside!  The kids all ran to hear for themselves, which was followed by a chorus of oohs, ahhs, and awws.  The next day, we spotted our first pip through the egg. 

 

 

 By the end of Thursday, we had ourselves our first chick.  We all went to bed that night hoping to see a whole lot of hatching the next day, but the chicks took care of that business overnight and this is what we woke to.

 

The kids quickly got to naming all 18 of our hatched brood.  They had a ton of fun handling them and including them in family activities for the first week or so.  

 

And then they got bigger.  And stinkier. 

 

 

We relocated them to the basement and started cleaning the brooder cage twice a day just to control the smell.  I had been worried that, despite the fact that we had been very clear from the outset that we absolutely would not be allowed to keep even one chick, saying goodbye at the end of four weeks would be tough.  Well, at the end of three weeks, both Sweet One and #4 came to me independently and told me that they thought these chicks were getting to be too much work (and "disgusting" per #4) and should probably head back to the farm sometime soon.  Problem solved.

 

#4 took some parting shots of his favorite chick before I drove them back to the farm.

 

Sweet One and #4 put together their science fair project based on this experience, and I can now check that one off of everyone's bucket list.  I'm pretty sure we're done with that project for good.  Butterflies and tadpoles somehow seem like a whole lot less work.  But they're not nearly as cute.  Or as stinky.