New pics of some chicks!

Here are some pictures of four of our chicks getting big!  They are from the top down:  Sawyer, Sunny, Sawyer again, Pippin, and Rosa.  Yay chicks!

Chicks Back! Jaymi

Chicks Back! Heidi

Chicks Back! Harper

Chicks Back! Samuel

Chicks Back! Shirley

Chicks Back! Bonita

Chicks Back! Raphael

The chicks that were fostered out are being returned today!  We currently have two in the building, Raphael and Bonita.  They are SO BIG now!  They are starting to look very chicken-y.  If you'd like to come see them we will have some all day! 

Harper and Samuel Update!

I have received this update about Samuel and Harper and am so happy to share it with you all!  "Harper and Samuel are getting sooooo big. :)  They have little tail feathers now and we're pretty sure their feet are growing by the hour.  Samuel likes to stand up very tall stretching his neck like a Giraffe.  Harper is more relaxed of the two chicks and is most definitely the lead singer of this duet!"  Harper is the yellow one and Samuel is the darker one.  Thanks SO much for the update!

A Gift From Cauli

I guess Cauli heard that I'm rather sad because the chicks aren't here anymore.  He brought me this cute little stuffed duckling baby chick!  How sweet of him to see this little duckling baby chick and think of us over here in the Youth Department. 

I can't speak for all of us about being sad (next time you see her, be sure to ask Wild Thang how she feels now that the chicks are gone) but for me personally, this week sort of feels like the week following Christmas.

However, we do have April 25th to look forward to!  Shirley, Samuel, Pollyanna, Dillinger, Rose, Raphael, Jaymi, Harper, Heidi, and Bonita will all be back from fostering that day.  If you'd like to see them, be sure to call before you come, because they will only be here a short while!  I'll take more videos and pictures of them at that time.  They will look very different from when they left us!

Raphael and Huck

Here are some updated pics of Huck and Raphael.  We are so sad that Huck passed away!  However, this is a natural part of raising chicks.  We had SO many hatch.  They say you can lose about 15% of your hatch.  We've lost Huck, Viola, Rocky, and Diane.  That is just about 15%.  I hope we don't lose any more!  Raphael is doing great and is looking forward to haviing Bonita to play with.

Bonita getting big!

Samuel and Harper Update!

Here's an update from the family who are fostering Harper and Samuel!  Such CUTE pictures!

 

"Just letting you know that Harper and Samuel are doing great.  Feathers are starting to come in on both chicks too.  My daughter has been a excellent helper and is checking on them very often.  So far so good.  I'll update you again soon."

 

Thanks so much for the update! 

A Visit to the Farm

Well, I dropped the incubator off at the farm yesterday. A5 was there, hatched and breathing, but I received word not long after that that the sweet little blond chick had died. It seems that the later they hatch, the less likely they are to live and hatching yesterday was a very late hatch.

While I was there I got to visit Jeannie (the little black chick). She is doing well and is getting acclimated to her new home with lots of other chicks and chickens. The pretty rooster pictured here is actually one of the chicks we hatched last year! Amazing! He could actually be the daddy of some of the chicks we hatched this year! Oh, the amazing circle of life.

Last post of the evening...

Well, your A5 update is a short one.  I have no idea what is going on with that chick.  If I lived closer I'd probably drive to Mooresville and find out, but being as I'm in here Indy, it will have to wait for tomorrow.  I have to be in Martinsville tomorrow though (our Teen and Tween Councils won 2,000 in grant money from Youth As Resources, a United Way organization and they are getting their checks tomorrow) so I will stop by the library and take a look to see what A5 is doing.  Either way, we've had a very positive hatch.  Since we cracked three eggs after week one, really we were only setting 38 eggs.  28 viable eggs out of 38 that we were setting gives us a hatch rate of 74%.  Really really great!

Volia and Rocky

Well, Rocky is not the only chick who passed away.  Viola also passed away.  She went home with one of our farm families and I just received word this morning that she is gone.  She was small but we thought she was fine.  If you watch her video you can see she looked pretty good.  Maybe less perky than the others...I guess with so many eggs that hatched we are bound to lose a couple.  At least Rocky isn't alone. 

A5

Just called the library...A5 is still moving and there is progress on the hole.

Update on A5!

A5 is peeping and moving, but not a lot of progress on the hole in the egg...more as soon as I have something to report. 

Notes for Next Year...

So, it is Saturday morning and I'm here in bed thinking about the chicks. Whenever we do something major at the library, I like to reflect on it afterwards to see what I would have done differently or what I can change for next year...I have a few notes. First of all (and this is slightly unpleasant...) many of our chicks hatched with bloody belly buttons. I read that this means our incubator was too hot. It is really difficult to regulate the incubator, and we felt pretty good about it this whole hatch, but maybe we should be just a half or quarter a degree cooler next year. Also, I really need to totally clear my schedule the week of the chick hatch. Let's be realistic...we got NOTHING done this week except for hanging out with the chicks. We should also keep a tally for patrons who come to the library just to see the chicks for statistical purposes. We are also considering buying our own incubator. With two, we could do the hatch in one and then transfer over to the other after the hatch. This might cut down on the amount of bacteria in the second incubator. (Out incubator is disgusting after hatching 30 chicks.) More things to buy include another whole brooder box as well as another food and water container. This will make the last day easier and will give us replacements as the others wear out, break, or melt.

I am going to call work in half an hour to see the fate of our peeping egg...I am anxious to see the results of our late A5!

Chicks off to their final destination!

The above is the last video of the chicks for now!  They have all gone off to their friendly farm home.  These chicks include:  Bonita, Gilbert, Elphaba, Helen, Alan Rickbird, Ryuzaki, Charlotte, Estelle, Billina, Francie, Olivia, Ian, and Malcolm.  They also took Viola, but she is not in this video.  Our sad news is that Rocky didn't make it.  We are very sad about this.  He labored in his breathing and lived just under 24 hours, but he did pass away. 

The exciting news is that the incubator is still here!  We have one egg (A5 / Diane!) who is peeping in the shell.  This is very late in the process and we don't really know what will happen.  I will be sure to give you all an update in the morning!

Thanks for reading!  We hope to have more updates from our families soon! 

Families: if you want to update this blog just send your comments and pictures to me at:
suzannew@mooresville.lib.in.us.

Love, Broadway Gal