The first to escape the confines of the egg. We call him William Wallace, because he was first to obtain FREEEEEDOM!

William Wallace, busted free of it’s egg at about 6 pm this evening, eastern time. He arrived a day or so earlier than expected. While he has achieved freedom from his egg, it will be a bit before he secures actual freedom. For the time being he remains tightly imprisoned within his incubator. He has spent what time he has been free thus far, mainly yelling at the incubator walls that keep him trapped. I thought the name William Wallace, fit him rather well given his obsession with freeing himself.

William Wallace, initially had 23 brethren remaining imprisoned in the egg prisons. He has also been walking about the incubator yelling at them too. He was so rude to one, it too decided it was time to make a jail break of it’s own. Once the decision was made the initial pipping took some time. But then things moved along at a good clip. We have named this one Brave. The one after that, we will call Heart. Then will come Mel and Gibson…. At that point we are gonna need a new theme for names. I am think that one after Gibson, will be called Houdini…. Beyond that I have no clue.

April, is an interesting time of year here on a New England homestead…. The farm yard has not yet been cleaned up for the start of the season. Yet by the end of the month all the wonderful cool season green things in the greenhouse will be comfortable outdoors full time. And not so long after that, the warm weather crop will be ready to be outside full time. It is also the time of new life so far as chickens and guinea hens go. So much new life begins in this month and so much clean up must transpire so we are ready to plant when the plants are ready to live outside. It is such a magical moment. Between rainy muddy days we get clear blue skies and beautiful sunshine and you can feel the spring beating on the door gradually busting it’s way into the room and into existence.

The mood begins to lighten after the long New England winter. Fun and tasty things begin to happen. For example, I often bake when it rains. Today, my project was cookies. I was just putting them onto a plate fresh from the oven, in a house that smelled of maple syrup, baking fresh wheat flour, and vanilla extract, when I first heard William Wallace roar in his adorable cheepy little voice, “FREEEDOM!” As you can imagine, I went flying to my crafting studio, where the incubator is set up, to see what was going on. There he sat, still wet and freshly escaped from his egg, laying on the floor of the incubator, shouting that he was victorious in his egg prison break.

Watching chicks break free, is such an amazing and magical experience. One that far too few get to enjoy these days. Chickens are no longer part of most people’s lives as most, live in cities and apartment buildings. Neighbors on top of them, or looking in through the fish bowl windows of the house from a house only a few paces away. We have lost touch with the magic of older ways of life. This is a truly magical moment to watch a living thing bust it’s way into the world and stand up and yell for the first time. To experience the new life and see it express it’s strength, knowing in time, that living thing will provide for your needs. You will watch it grow, and nurture it. Then it will give back in several ways.

 

Chickens hatching can take time. This video is legit, it is just time lapse. So it appears to be happening very quickly. In reality it can take a bit of time. It begins with pipping or putting a small hole in the shell. Then gradually, they widen the hole and make it bigger both pushing at it and pecking at it with their beak, until they can escape. Sometimes part way through the work is just too much and they take a break and nap for a while. Sometimes they do it all at once. Every chick’s hatching time will be different and will be done a bit differently. Often the egg moves around some on the floor of the incubator as they do their chicken best to bust out from the egg prison they develop in. Often, even before the eggs hatch, you will hear cheeping coming from the eggs and whatever is still inside. This would indicate that pipping will likely start soon which will be followed quite possibly by a nap or even several as they work to free themselves. It is best to try to avoid helping them. If 24 hours goes by and they are having trouble but are clearly alive then wash your hands and do the least amount you can to help them out of their shells, otherwise just wait and watch. It was a wonderful moment, to see this second little one breaking out of it’s shell. Partly because I was not alone. My husband and our wonderful tenant were here with me. Our tenant, is the one who took the video and kindly allowed me to use it for this blog post. She very much enjoyed watching life assert itself. As a biologist, she spends so much time working on computers in a lab, watching something greet the world for the first time, is such a wonderful practical way to experience a living thing by comparison. So she took the video.

Chickens are amazing creatures. Some people take their lives and eat them, I don’t have any objections to that, so long as they are eaten and utilized as fully as possible, and the death they suffer is as pain free and low stress as it can possibly be made. We have a duty to do all we can to take what we eat as non cruelly as possible. But this is a part of the homestead lifestyle for many and so long as it is done as compassionately as possible and for food, I do not judge. The work that happens on homesteads can be extreme and hard on our bodies. Homesteaders, therefore need hearty, wholesome, protein, even more than people who live a more modern life built on conveniences do. It is also in my view an extremely honest way to live. As it recognizes and honors the reality of consuming meat and takes responsibility for what is involved. Here at Wildflower, we keep our animals for the products they produce other than meat and for the ways they impact the homestead. We operate a permaculture model. IMG_4128


One thing this means, is that we bring onto our homestead varieties of animals that can benefit the land and can save us labor. For example, sheep are great for wool. They also keep the grass trimmed, which means that is one less job we have to do. But we don’t have any sheep. Chickens too are amazing in that they clear land. If you ever look in a chicken run you will find that they kill whatever is growing there and turn it into a patch of brown earth ready for tilling. They poop too all over the space which if allowed time to cool, greatly benefits the soil of that little patch of land. Making it, in a few months, an incredibly fertile place to put a garden. Chicken tractors are the tool of choice for this. Because once the patch is clear, you just pick it up, and drag it to a new spot and clear a little more land and grow you garden’s size through this method. In addition, chickens produce eggs…. Which we all know have become obscene in price of late.

The bird flu, is a real thing and it is causing huge egg shortages due to the culling that tragically must be done of sick birds. Ways to avoid it, include putting a roof or cover on the run so wild birds are not pooping in the run as they fly by. Another method, involves isolating the birds inside where they can’t see the sun except through windows. There is no perfect method, but these do help with prevention. Here we have not had issues, but we realize if we don’t do what we can to prevent it, that it is just a matter of time till we do have problems. So we take steps of that nature to do what we can to keep our birds safe. We only produce eggs and all other food for our own use. We are a homestead, not a market farm.

In the midst of so much winter death, there is an unbelievable high in bringing new life into the world. It is magical and wonderful. I want to share that wonder. One thing I find amazing about chickens, is how like little dinosaurs they are, watching them break free of the shell, must be somewhat akin to watching a dinosaur bust out into the world. Yet again, doing what I do I feel as if I am part of something ancient.

Once escaped, it can take a bit for them to dry. They get really cute and fluffy when they dry and then it is just such a joy to look at them and enjoy their utter adorableness.

Hatching chicken eggs, is a really fun homestead project. Not all of them will hatch. You must obtain an incubator, I like using one that rotates the eggs so I don’t have to be neurotic related to the project. You keep the temperature at a steady 99.5-100 degrees Fahrenheit. one thing we have found helpful is measuring the temperature from 2 different locations within the incubator. We then add water as needed. For most of their stay in the incubator, in order to keep the humidity level at around 50%. A couple of days before hatching, you may want to turn up the humidity to around 62% or even a bit higher. So far our best luck has been at about 73%. I usually take the egg rotator out at the same time as I turn up the humidity. In addition, this is also when I do the final candling of the eggs.

Candling, is something you do at different points in the development of the chicken within the egg. It is a way to check on weather the proper or expected physical development is happening as it should be. You do it at intervals. Some candle earlier, usually we candle on day 7, day 14, and finally on day 18 or 19. Candling, is called candling, because it was originally done by candle light, before the invention of flashlights. We use a flashlight, or a torch as Brits insist on calling it. How it works, is, one at a time, you hold eggs up to the light till you can see their insides illuminated. This is best done quickly and in a dark room. The goal is to get them back into the incubator and to the proper temperature as quickly as possible, so they are not stressed by this necessary process that helps weed out infertile eggs.

They say you can take them directly from the incubator and put them in the brooder box as soon as they are dry and fluffy…. My experience is that never seems to go well for the chicks. Instead we try to wait a couple of days before moving them to the brooder. In that time if they are hungry, they have their eggs to eat. The brooder, is set up with a heated space so they have an easy time staying warm. It has shavings and or news paper on it’s floor, and food and water are set up for them. A note about water…. You want to be careful because every now and again they may decide to drown in it. Losing animals is a tragic part of farming. A part no farmer likes. But it is a reality that one must learn to accept. The goal, is to have it happening as little as humanly possible. So try to set the water up so that they can’t drown in it. The chicks remain in the brooder for 3 to 6 weeks. It is important to check on them, even clean it out when necessary, and make sure they always have access to food and water. At about 6ish weeks, gradually remove the brooder heater, by raising it up higher and or gradually turning down it’s temperature over the course of several days.

At this point, you can take them to the coop! If you already have birds put them in a dog crate for a few days in the coop or up against it where the new and old chickens can begin to accustom themselves to each other and where no one can fight with anyone. Chickens can be assholes. They don’t call it a “pecking order” for no reason. No one wants their chickens abusing each other. After about a week like this, I wait till after dark in the evening. Then I quietly come in while all my birds are on their perches sleeping and I take my new young chickens one at a time and place them calmly on the perches. So in the morning, the old chickens won’t realize the new chickens have been added. This helps significantly to reduce chicken wars.

Another option is to have a fresh new coop. I encourage new not used, because birds are sensitive and if you don’t really know the full history of the coop and the previous birds in it, you are opening yourself up to potential disaster. So especially for new chicken keepers I encourage a new coop. You can build it yourself, you can buy it. But used for newbies is a bad idea. Once you have lots of chicken experience and you are getting the used coop from someone you know and trust and you can see the chickens previously in it were healthy and there were no health issues in it, then it can be alright to get a used coop. By then  you must know the symptoms of a number of chicken illnesses, how to treat them, when to call a vet, and how and when to quarantine sick birds. Only at this level of experience and under these circumstances is a used coop an acceptable thing to obtain and use.

You will hatch both hens and roosters. So it is best to have a plan for the roosters. Otherwise they often fight, and that is a bloody and horrific painful and cruel mess to permit to happen in your coop. Seriously, it is one reason I donate to animal rescue organizations because folks who allow that are not fit to keep animals and someone must step in to protect the animals if the owner fails to. So you need a plan for when it becomes evident that you have too many roosters. Many call the stew pot that plan. That is one method. There are also farm animal rescues that will take unwanted roosters. Sometimes (rarely) it is possible to find them new homes where they can live a long full happy life. But if you bring them into the world it is your responsibility and duty to have a plan for them.

The claim is chickens start to lay at about 4 and a half months…. I call BS. I have never seen them begin laying so young. I have found more often it is right around 6 months that they start to lay, and then just the hens lay.

The eggs produced by hens are NOT fertile unless chicken sex between chickens of opposite genders has occurred. (It’s quick and kinda ugly and looks uncomfortable.) The rooster will climb on top of the chicken’s back, grab her by the back of the neck, blink and it’s over. Sometimes, it is really done very roughly by the rooster and injures the hen. That is not a good rooster to keep. He is someone you might want to eat. Often, chickens have almost a mating ritual. If you watch closely, you will frequently see with a good rooster worth keeping, that he gives his harem of hens gifts and earns his rights that way.

Fertilized eggs brought in immediately and consumed rather quickly, won’t really be different from unfertilized eggs. But I wouldn’t wait more than a day or so to use them up. Otherwise…. It may get funky. No fertilization takes place in a coop with no rooster. So the best way to keep chickens for egg production is to keep just the hens. Eggs are like periods for hens. Only rather than monthly they happen just about once a day. I know, it sounds like a dreadful way to live to me too. But even without a rooster hens will lay. So a rooster is not required. Another thing about roosters that can drive one mental is the screaming at the sun as it rises. Many neighborhoods don’t allow roosters. In which case you really need to have a plan for them, so that they don’t disturb neighbors. Roosters are not the only chickens to sing the song of their people. Each hen has a unique song that she sings when she lays her daily eggs. If you listen carefully and regularly to your chickens laying in time you will know who is laying based on the song she is singing.

Which brings us to the last bit about chickens I am going to discuss here…. Make sure chickens are legal in your town before getting them. Look at the bylaws and make sure your set up complies. Take steps to be clean and to ensure your birds never become an issue for your neighbors. Chicken owners can be great neighbors, but only if they behave with their birds in ways to ensure they are not imposing on the people living around them.

This has been so magical, to once again see living things breaking out into the light of day,
where they will begin truly living full and happy lives.
There is something so magical about seeing new life enter the world.
Thank you for sharing this amazing moment with me.
Amanda of Wildflower Farm