Relaxed Farming - our farm in your classroom

Say hello to our first chick of 2015!! This little chap (or chapess) hatched out sometime late morning and by the time we discovered it, it was almost completely dry (first photo)! The second photo, taken three hours later, shows it looking very fluffy and content, all snuggled up to mum. (We should point out that at this stage, chicks spend most of their time UNDER mum to keep warm - we popped this chick 'next' to mum for a few seconds so we could take a photo!!)
Queenie is, as ever, a fab mum and happy for us to be near her and her chicks. Not quite so fab was that half way through the afternoon, we discovered that the Indian Game had shoved Queenie off the nest (again) and was sitting on the remaining four eggs, AND had the chick tucked under her as well. We hoisted her off and restored Queenie to her rightful position. The mothering instinct really can be very strong in broody birds!!!
By the time we shut everything away safely for the night, no more of the eggs had begun to hatch but, there were definite pecking noises coming from at least two of the remaining ones. Hopefully, chick number one will have at least two siblings by the morning.
The hatching stage is quite fantastic as the broody chicken 'talks' to the chicks whilst they are still in the egg in order to encourage them to break out of their shell. Whilst mum has sat for 21 days by this stage and worked hard at keeping the eggs warm and safe, the hard work now belongs to the chick as they peck away to crack the egg shell and break free. All birds (and reptiles) that hatch from eggs have an egg tooth on their beak or bill. This is like a cross between a saw and a hammer and is designed to get through the hard shell. Once hatched, the egg tooth naturally falls off as it is no longer needed. Clever eh?
Keep an eye on the diary and on our daily videos for news of further hatchings, hopefully tomorrow!!