Bigger brooder pen

Although most are only a couple days old, they are already starting to hop around. The few that began hatching Saturday (early) are developing pin feathers. So, I assembled a cardboard pen on the living room floor (the only room we can keep the cats out of) and we turned them loose in their new, bigger home.

This is our late-bloomer, hatching Monday afternoon. Because the coloring is unique, it's easy to spot in the flock. I've decided to try to document the growth by photographing it every day while they are inside.

It's a challenge living with so many active siblings. Just try stretching out a leg during a nap and see how long you can sleep when someone pecks your toes!

24 bundles of fluff out of 30 eggs; a great hatch rate for me. I don't candle for fertility at any stage so just take the chance that the roosters are doing their jobs. A blogger I read talked about breaking open the unhatched eggs to see what went wrong. My view is there is no way I'm cracking an egg that has been cooking for three weeks. I checked to be sure there weren't any pips or cracks on the leftover eggs before turning off the incubator. Other than that I'm simply grateful to have so many healthy chicks.