Chick Hatching Project - Week 6

Our chicks are now at their new home in unincorporated Glen Ellyn. They need a little more time under the heat lamp before going to their new coop. Thank you to everyone who helped us bring these chicks into the world!

Visit our YouTube channel for chick hatching videos.
Visit our Facebook page to see our chick hatching photo album.

Chick Hatching Project - Week 5

Our chicks are growing rapidly and developing their feathers. They are testing out their wings by perching on the top of the food and water dishes! We clean their brooder twice a day and change their water frequently to try to keep things clean.

One of our sick chicks did not survive, but the chick with hip dysplasia is responding to our librarian’s efforts to splint the leg. We hope she can join the other chickens next week.

Chick Hatching Project - Week 4

Hatch Day—April 30 and May 1

Our patience has been rewarded! The first egg hatched at 9:00 Tuesday morning. This healthy chick had free reign of the incubator while waiting for the other eggs to hatch. Finally, another egg hatched around 3:00 followed by the third and final egg of the day around 4:00 pm. The chicks remained in the incubator overnight to encourage more eggs to hatch. A few more chicks were pipping out when the library closed for the evening.

The quiet overnight hours proved to be the best environment for more eggs to hatch, as six more baby chicks were in the incubator at 8:30 on Wednesday morning. Most were healthy, but one chick seems to have hip dysplasia. We will monitor this chick to see if its condition improves. We moved two of yesterday’s chicks into the brooder at 9:30 a.m. and showed them their food and water. Brooding temperature was 85°.

During the day five more chicks hatched, and some of them were moved to the brooder that evening. That gave us a total of 16 chicks hatched!

Sick Chick—May 1 and 2

Wednesday evening we noticed that one chick was struggling to pip out of its shell. Not wanting the chick to perish, we helped it out and noticed that its feet were deformed. We mixed up another batch of vitamin solution and started administering it to the chick Thursday morning once the remaining chicks were moved into the brooder. By Thursday afternoon the chick was standing and moving. We are hoping for another miracle!

Meanwhile, there are three more eggs in the incubator that don’t show signs of life. They were removed on Friday afternoon. The two chicks with leg problems went home with our Youth Services Llibrarian.

Chick Hatching Project - Week 3

We candled eggs #9-24 on Tuesday, April 23, which was Day 14. We found three more infertile eggs, which makes a total of four infertile eggs out of our group of 24. This is the same percentage as last year. We removed all of these eggs from the incubator.

On Friday, April 26, which was Day 17, we prepared the incubator for the upcoming hatching process. Since the eggs needs to remain in one position, we removed the automatic egg turner. In order to minimize the mess from the hatching chicks, we covered the bottom of the incubator with absorbent cloths. Finally, to provide sufficient humidity to allow the chicks to emerge easily from the eggs, we filled all of the water chambers and added two wet sponges to the incubator. The humidity needs to be at 65%.

Chick Hatching Project - Week 2

We candled eggs #1-8 on Thursday, which was Day 9. As the pictures show, the fertile eggs have embreyos inside with blood vessels and eyes. The embryo inside is also moving around.

We noticed that egg #6 seems to be infertile, as all we see is a yolk. Since there is no chick inside, that egg will be removed from the incubator to keep it from exploding.

Chick Hatching Project - Week 1

With the fluctuating spring weather, we have found that we have had to adjust the temperature in the incubator a few times over the week. Although we have been able to keep our humidity steady at about 50%, our temperature has been fluctuating between 98 to 101%.

We will be candling our eggs on April 18 and look forward to seeing the embryos move inside the eggs. Watch for pictures next week.

Chick Hatching Project
April 9-May 15, 2019

We're thrilled to have the chick hatching project back at the library this year! Watch this space for updates throughout April and May as the chicks are incubated and hatch. Starting April 9, come to the Youth Services desk to watch the eggs' progress as they hatch into chicks. We will post updates on our website and our Facebook page throughout the process.