... The Best of Times.

Sometimes awful things happen at he homestead, as seen in the last blog, but many times the good out weighs the bad. Just days after a raccoon attack wipe out most of out flock, Eden Hallows very first chicks hatched. We missed both hatches, but there will be more as this was a great experience!

Baby on the left was born first. We were out of town for the weekend and my mom had stopped by to check on the coon attack survivors and discovered the little fluffy in the incubator. She named it Tanna after her husbands grandma. Tanna is very vocal, and rambunctious, and appears to be super healthy and thriving. Baby number two hatched over night a little after its "due date". Is is considerably smaller than Tanna, and came out of the shell with part of the unabsorbed yolk sac and a piece of "umbilical cord" attached to its tummy. It took its time being ready to come out of the incubator, but after a couple days it had to come out. Just before hatch, the chick absorbs the last of the yolk sac into its belly through the cord. The chick is able to survive off of that yolk for about 3 days after hatch without eating or drinking. This is how hatcheries are able to ship day old chicks. The two of them had to be separated in the brooder box for a short time because Tanna was picking at Baby2's belly, but I guessed they were OK to be together when i went to check on them and found Tanna on Baby2's side and they were hanging out just fine.

I really wanted to hatch our own babies to rebuild our flock. I set out to find somewhere to get some different hatching eggs to diversify our flock. In the end we decided to order pullets (baby hens) from a hatchery. I found a hatchery that would ship them to us right away, so they and the babies we hatched would only be a week apart and close enough to grow up together.
Watching them grow up is going to be so fun!I can't wait to see what kind of feathering and markings Tanna and Baby2 end up having. I can't wait to see every bodies little personalities. I can't wait to have a basket full of eggs again!