Success!

It was a little more nerve racking than I thought it would be. I just thought it would happen and didn't really think about it. We got Ben the incubator for his birthday and started incubating the eggs our chickens were laying. He's done a good job watching them but it takes 21 days so we marked the calendar. We started getting excited but then nothing happened. We anticipated the first egg to hatch on the 23rd but the day went and nothing happened. So we waited. Yesterday morning, Kevin brought it to our attention that one of the eggs was cracked. We were all very excited. As we watched it, we noticed that the membrane was dry and thought maybe it was having trouble. Kevin cut the membrane very carefully and then we watched and waited. We decided (after a little research on the internet) that maybe it wasn't humid enough. So we added water, and even put a damp paper towel on the egg to see if it would help. When we went to bed that night we were all a little worried about the chick. We talked to the kids about it, and tried to let them know that if it didn't make it, that was okay. They all prayed for the chick as they went to bed. This morning, Emily and Marissa were able to watch the little chick hatch out of the egg. What a wonderful thing that must have been. We spent the next hour setting things up and finding a good place for the chick to hang out. We were hoping for more than one but we'll be happy with our one! It hasn't taken long for it to become a little fluffier but I'm sure by the end of the day it will be perfectly fluffy!