Hatch Day Finally Came… How Many Chicks Made It?

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]Four days ago, >> [music] >> these were just eggs.

[00:00:05]Now look at them.

[00:00:07]>> [music] >> 21 days in an incubator.

[00:00:15]>> [music] [music] >> And this happened.

[00:00:29]But getting here it took a lot of patience.

[00:00:41]For 21 days we waited. We checked the temperature.

[00:00:47]We checked humidity every day, the same routine.

[00:00:54]Then one evening my daughter heard it.

[00:01:02]Chirping.

[00:01:04]The first sign isn't a chick.

[00:01:06]It's just a tiny crack in the shell.

[00:01:16]They call it a pip.

[00:01:19]That's when you know something is happening.

[00:01:25]What surprised us the most is how long it takes.

[00:01:49]Once that first crack appears, it can take hours.

[00:01:54]Sometimes a full day.

[00:01:56]And hardest part is doing nothing.

[00:02:02]You want to help, but you can't.

[00:02:06]The kids watch every time.

[00:02:09]Every little moment.

[00:02:12]Every tiny chirp.

[00:02:14]It was hard for them not to even open the incubator.

[00:02:22]>> [music] >> Then, finally, the first chick Out of 21 eggs, 18 hatched.

[00:02:38]But we did lose one chick after taking it out too early before they had fully dried and fluffed up.

[00:02:44]That was a hard lesson learned.

[00:02:46]One other chick pipped, but became shrink-wrapped.

[00:02:50]And two never pipped at all.

[00:02:53]We tried to help where we could, but sometimes hatching doesn't go the way you [music] hope.

[00:02:59]In the end, we had 17 healthy chicks.

[00:03:02]And for our first time, we're grateful.

[00:03:05]Hey, dad. Hey, dad. Can I sit in?

[00:03:08]I'm going to sit.

[00:03:10]Is that a rooster?

[00:03:12]Uh-oh.

[00:03:13]>> [crying] >> It pushes, stops, pushes again, and then suddenly, there was.

[00:03:28]After the first one, everything starts happening.

[00:03:33]Eggs were rocking, chirping everywhere, shells cracking.

[00:03:40]It gets loud in that incubator.

[00:04:14]>> Today we're 4 days after hatch [music] and they're already completely different.

[00:04:21]Walking, eating, running around like they own the place.

[00:04:30]We're using a red heat lamp here to help keep [music] the chicks warm. The red light also keeps the brooder a little calmer. It makes it harder for the chicks to notice tiny red spot or anything they might want to pick at.

[00:04:57]Oh, don't be bad. Why you being bad, Julie? You good?

[00:05:01]I'm watching baby.

[00:05:06]I'm going to bed.

[00:05:08]I'm going to feed her and brush teeth.

[00:05:10]You stop doing that.

[00:05:12]I'm going to Stop doing that. What are you doing?

[00:05:16]Look.

[00:05:17]I'm going to go home.

[00:05:20]This little chick had a rough start.

[00:05:23]When it hatched, part of its shell was stuck to [music] it.

[00:05:27]So, we left it in the incubator and let it dry until the shell came off on its own.

[00:05:32]Later in the brooder, the other chicks [music] noticed the dried umbilical cord still attached.

[00:05:39]They started pecking at it.

[00:05:41]Chicks are curious and they'll peck at anything that stands out. So, we had to watch it closely and separate them when needed.

[00:05:52]Watching this happen reminds us why we started this.

[00:06:01]All right, y'all. This is our first after the work is done talk, and I just want to be real with y'all for a minute.

[00:06:07]Before hatching these eggs, we really didn't know what we were doing.

[00:06:11]We didn't grow up around this, and incubating eggs isn't anything we had experience with.

[00:06:17]One of our neighbors brought some eggs over and asked if we wanted to try hatching them. And at first, I had every reason why we couldn't.

[00:06:27]I told him we weren't ready.

[00:06:29]We didn't have the money for an incubator.

[00:06:32]There was still so much work to do on the house and land.

[00:06:35]Chickens were in the plan, but just not this soon.

[00:06:39]But, he offered to lend us his incubator.

[00:06:41]From there, we just started learning. We took the advice he gave us, did more research, and tried to figure it out as we went. And everything didn't go perfect. We had 21 eggs in the incubator. 18 hatched, and we ended up with 17 healthy chicks.

[00:06:58]We lost one because we took it out too early before it had dried and fully fluffed up.

[00:07:04]And that was a hard lesson learned.

[00:07:10]But, that's the real side of this.

[00:07:11]Sometimes, you don't feel ready.

[00:07:14]Sometimes, you don't have all the money, the experience, or the perfect timing. But, just like when we first started building our house, we had to start somewhere and trust God through the process. This hatch wasn't perfect, but it was real. And that's what we want this channel to be. Real life, real lessons, one step at a time. We got a lot more to learn and a lot more to build. Appreciate y'all watching.

[00:07:43]If y'all enjoy the real side of this journey, stick around.

[00:07:47]3 years ago, we were in a travel trailer with four kids.

[00:07:52]Now, we're watching our first set of chicks hatch on our own land.

[00:07:58]That's progress.

[00:08:01]And this is just the beginning.

[00:08:04]Welcome to Raven Rock Homestead.

[00:08:11]I want to show you something. Listen to me.

[00:08:12]I want to get over there and look at it.

[00:08:16]Shh.