Horseshoe's blog: "The Call of Quercus" (or "In this case the eggs came before the chicks...)

 We’ve all heard it.  We’ve all asked it. We’ve all wondered about it.

“Which came first, the chicken or the egg?”

 In my case I can honestly say these eggs came before the chicks did.

........

About 3 weeks ago I decided to put some chicken eggs in the incubator with the hope of getting some fresh poultry stock.  Moving the incubator out of the tool room and into the shoffice I did it justice.  I dusted it off, washed it well, turned it on for a day to make sure all its parts were working well. Then I put 22 Aracauna eggs in it.  Two days later I received more eggs from my friend, Jennifer, all brown ones.  By the way, Araucana eggs (or to be more precise “Ameraucana” eggs) are green, sometimes blue.

For the next three weeks I babysat, turning eggs as much as five times a day during the first week then reducing the turning down to 3 times a day.  Along the way I kept an eye on the temperature in the incubator, a constant 99.9 degrees was the goal.  In addition I had to add water to troughs for proper moisture content.

I have no idea why but one of Jennifer’s brown eggs hatched a day before my green eggs did.  Remember, the green eggs were supposed to start hatching two days before the brown ones.  I can only guess this little chick was ready to get on with life, see new horizons, see what’s around the bend, so to speak.  A baby but yet already a tough ol’ bird, eh?  I’d recently spent several days chainsawing a huge branch that fell off a 200+year-old oak tree and when telling the tree’s owner about the chick she suggested I name it Quercus. I figured if that name was good enough for a tough old oak it also fit this young’n, a natural-born tough old bird, or tough young bird, eh?

Quercus seemed to take life as it came.  Here he sits surveying the future flock, wondering when they will break free, all the while chirping them on.

And now, getting up close and more encouraging, I supposed.

Another day or so passed and although this is not the best picture you can see two more chicks have hatched.  I know, I know, it was a long journey for them; they appear "rode hard and put up wet", eh?  But I assure you they took their deserved rest, drying off in the hot temperature while occassionally testing their land legs, falling over backwards or sidewards and peeping about their successes regardless of which way they fell.  Ya see, there are no failures in the Chick World, only successes to peep about.  Methinks I could learn some lessons from these birds.

As time passed again, sometimes only an hour or so, sometimes minutes, more chicks heard “The Call of Quercus” and joined in.  Some chicks peeped while still in their shells; all chicks peeped once free.

When each of the chicks became fully dried they were moved to their new temporary home and introduced to their first drink of water.  Each beak was gently dipped into the fountain, another “first experience” for them.  They seemed to love their newfound freedom, their new home, the wet stuff that helped to wash the taste of eggshell out of their mouth, and the heatlamp, their sun.  A day or so later they were introduced to solid food.  And no worries, Folks, chicks tend to live off their yolk for the first 3 days or so of their life so I assure you they weren’t starving.

At this point there is yet another freshly hatched chick in the incubator, drying off.  It appears to be looking for a way out, probably thinking, “If I can get out of that egg I’m sure I can bust outta here and find my buddies.”

And now, at this point, the rest of the eggs in the incubator will probably not hatch.  Perhaps they weren’t fertile; maybe some weren’t strong enough to escape.  On a good note, I happily chime in with the new life, peeping along with them, talking to them in chick talk and people talk, telling them jokes (‘Hey, why’d the chicken cross the road? To show possums that it COULD be done!’).  I also read to them from my blog.

 Perhaps one day they’ll hear of their great great great Grandma, Claudette the First, a bona fide one-of-a-kind hen who is still talked about, highly admired by poultry and people alike, and is a soul to live up to, giving hope and ambition to all chickens everywhere!

Ain’t Life Grand!

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