The Great Chicken Adventure: Day 20 - 10 AM

Yesterday, I assisted chick #6 with getting out of the shell. Chick #6 had made a hole around 10AM but didn't make any progress after that. By 4PM I was getting worried and maybe I shouldn't have done this but, I picked him out. I peeled back  his shell and after 1/2 of the shell was off he stretched himself out the rest of the way. Although he seemed weak at first, I held him a bit closer to the heat lamp for  a while and now he seems just as strong as the others. Some major developments happened yesterday evening with the first 6. They all are able to eat and drink! I started by sprinkling food on the newspaper lining the bottom of their box, and they found it so quickly! Then I put in shallow dishes of food and water, made from the bottom of yogurt containers. It took them a while to get the hang of the water. They would run through it, but they weren't drinking. So I dipped their beaks in the water, they didn't like that but soon after they were drinking (Thanks for the tip Grandma!). Between 4PM yesterday and 10AM  this morning there were no signs of life from the incubator. I checked them twice in the night and even got up early to sit with them - since early bird hatched yesterday before 6AM. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me because it seemed like the eggs were all jiggling! But now two have poked holes in their shells and one is very close to hatching, so I don't think I need to worry. I have made a separate box with another heat lamp for the fresh hatchers, before I mix them in with the day-olds. Here are some quick shots of a chick from yesterday and the one that's hatching now. More soon.