Chicks, Chickens and more!

It's that time of year... The feed stores are full of those tiny cheeping sounds... those bins of chicks are like magnets for my girls, and I must admit I love to stand and watch them too. It's SOO hard not to just bring a few home each time we are at the feed store. Boy would I be in trouble if I did that! lol If you've never raised baby chicks, you really should give it a try if you can. I never thought chickens would be addictive but they are!

This spring we were lucky enough to have a friend give us her old incubator... and we had a few other friends who were nice enough to give us some eggs to hatch! Not that I don't have enough eggs of my own but I really wanted to add some new breeds to our little flock! We are trying to hatch out two barred rock, three Araucana, and one that is a Heinz 57...



 or a cross between two of our favorite chickens... our Ameraucana rooster (Cabela) and our leghorn hen (Daisy)

 I'll be anxious to see how that chick turns out! :)


 To gear up for this experience, we've been reading every book about chickens and eggs that we can get our hands on. Our library has been WONDERFUL for this research!!


     

 

  These three have been favorites so far but we still have a stack to go! :)

In addition to all the reading we've been doing, we are also working on a  Chicken Lapbook at Homeschool Share! It is GREAT and the girls are really enjoying it!! It is even giving J good practice looking up Bible scriptures that mention a rooster crowing! This lapbook is definitely a win win! 

Life cycle of a chicken  Lots of printable pictures!!!

This picture is of our one white egg at 8 days in the incubator. You can "candle" them with a flashlight in the dark so you can be sure they are growing! This little guy has been dancing around in there ever since but has slowed down in moving around because she is almost ready to hatch! Chicken eggs take 21 days to incubate and this one's 21st day fall on Easter Sunday! We are so excited and can't wait to meet her (or him). R already wants to name "her" Tulip since her mama's name is Daisy! :) I'm just praying they all hatch out safely since we are so new to this! :)

More pictures to come... you can be sure!!