Chicks! Good Ones.

Monday morning text conversation with an early to arrive work friend:

Friend:  You have 2 chicken s

Me: Horray!

Friend: They are hunchbacks

Me: Crap!

Friend: R they supposed to have 3 legs?

Me: Kill them 4 me?

Friend: Oh no Dr Frankenstein that is on you

The due date for the chicks was Monday, and two of them arrived right on schedule.  I arrived at the office to find two perfect chicks that have normal backs and the normal amount of legs ending in straight sturdy toes, thanyouverymuch.  This is the biggest problem with trying hatch chickens in my office - everyone knows when I fail, which opens me to teasing!  Don't they know know that is is no laughing matter?  We're talking life and death, man!  The other  problem is that office productivity drops significantly while groups of us stare into the incubator willing them to hatch.  I also took one of the cute fluff balls on an office tour, just so everyone could see that I can create life that has normal toes.  One person looked up from her monitor at the sound of the peeping chick and said "Oh! What is it?"  Some people need to get out more.  

Two chicks from six eggs isn't great, but it's one hundred percent better than my last hatch which resulted in only one chick, with some...issues...poor Ducky.  But these little guys have nice straight toes, and are very curious and much more energetic than Ducky was during her first day.  And they have each other, so they should be less traumatized when they meet other chickens.

Then, this morning I recieve this text from a different early to work friend: U got 2 more chicks...

I was expecting to find two more fluff balls when I arrived at work (and yes, I am always the last to arrive at the office).  But, I found only one fluffy chick and one egg with an emerging chick.  The hatching chick spent the entire day trying to come out of the shell and I spent the entire day trying to decide if it is okay to help it.  See what I mean about office productivity?  After consulting the inter-web, I finally decided to wait and see if it can get out on its own.  I'll find out tomorrow I guess.

The chicks are so much fun to watch.  I'm embarrassed to say how much time I spent staring down into their box.  The biggest chick, with a light colored beard, who I've been calling Beardy, wants to eat the eyes of the other chick.  It stares at the other's eyes and then pecks and grabs eyelid which makes the victum squeal.  Beardy also likes to peck at the other chick's toes.  He is less interested in food and more interested in eating his brooder mates. 

When the chicks are stumbling around in their box and they walk into what must be the perfect temperature, under the light, their eyes close and it's like they slowly melt into little egg shaped chick puddles on the floor.  Something like a heat induced sleep trance.  Then their heads hit the ground and they pop back up to explore some more.  It's amazing that animals that are less than twenty four hours old can learn so much.  Of course, I'm learning too.  This morning I thought one of them had some poo stuck in it feathers around the it's nether regions.  Despite loud protests from the chick, I tried to pull it off only to realize it was the dried up end of the ambilical cord.  Oops!  Chicken belly buttons are still suprizing.