Summer Chicks

Welcome to the newest addition to our little "homestead"

In May I got a batch of eggs from a very good friend of mine to hatch in an incubator.
The procedure was simple, just put the eggs in the incubator, fill in some distilled water, set it and turn it on, easy enough.
Three weeks later I was glued to the see-through cupola of the incubator...did I hear a tweet?  Is there a chick pipping?? And then, all of a sudden, out they came. I tried to catch this with a time lapse video...not perfect, but it shows you the process....simply fascinating:

The time lapse is done in 2 min intervals, I should have done way shorter intervals...next time...

A week after they hatched, I had a little portrait session with them:

 click on the images to see them with more detail

Now they are in the stage between chicks and chickens, molting...teenagers, and growing fast.
I still have no idea how many are hens and how many are roosters...guesses go from three hens and two roosters to one hen and four roosters....