Mr. C is a young Araucana (Americana) rooster that came to us from Shari and Dave Groendyk at Texas Corners, a suburban area west of Kalamazoo.

Shari ordered 8 "Easter Egg" pullets (baby female chickens) online. Araucana chickens (or Americana as some people call them because they were bred in this country instead of coming directly from South America) lay eggs that are green, pink or ivory instead of plain brown or plain white.

At four months old one of Shari's pullets started crowing in the morning - her little girl chicken turned out to be a little boy chicken. The residents of Texas Corners like hens, but roosters are too noisy. Looking for a home for "Calliope" she renamed him "Mr. C" and brought him to Wild Rose Meadows.

When Mr. C arrived, he wanted to explore the barn so we let him out with the other chickens. They did not accept him into the flock.

Here is the way Mr. C's first week went....

• 1st night: Mr. C. hid under a pile of lumber in the far back corner of the barn where the older hens and roosters couldn't get him. We don't think he slept much the first night.
• 2nd night: We took Mr. C into protective custody in an unused horse stall with a Barred Rock hen for company. He roosted up in the corner of the stall where she couldn't get hm. We don't think he slept much the second night either.
• 3rd night: Mr. C roosted on top of a nesting box along with the hen, just out of reach of her sharp beak.
• 4th night: Mr. C roosted comfortably on top of the nesting box right next to the hen.
• 5th night: Mr. C roosted comfortably on top of the nesting box right next to the hen.
• 6th night: We opened the stall door. The hen went out.  Mr. C roosted on top of the nesting box by himself.
• 7th night: Mr. C. went out into the barn and roosted comfortably with the other chickens, like he had been there forever.

A whole bunch of kids are looking forward to baby chicks three weeks from now, so we filled up the incubator today with 36 eggs. Chicken eggs require 21 days to hatch.

Isn't it amazing that a chicken can produce a brand new egg in a day, and then sit on it for just 21 days to hatch a baby chick?

The incubator is constructed of styrofoam.The eggs can be seen through the windows in the top of the incubator.

There is a tray in the bottom into of the incubator into which we pour a little water to maintain humidity.The lid has a heat coil, a thermostat to turn the heat coil on and off, maintaining the required temperature of 99.5 degrees, and a fan to spread the warm air evenly across the eggs.

In the bottom of the incubator above the water is a screen. On the screen sits an electric egg turner that turns the eggs every fouir hours. The automatic egg turner is not required, but the eggs do need to be turned three times per day, so the egg turner is a nice feature.

After 18 days we will remove the egg turner and lay the eggs on their sides on top of the screen for the last 3 days until they hatch.

If all goes well. 21 days from now we will have a whole bunch of baby chicks for the kids to see and touch.