In early April Meanwhile Gardens gifted us with eggs from a flock that includes a cockerell. Jo, our Farm manager, put 6 eggs in an incubator in her home. For the 18 days she & her wife nurtured the eggs by turning them as a mother hen would do to prevent the developing chick from sticking to the sides of the shell.
By shining a light through the eggs in a dark room, they were able to determine that 2 eggs had developing chicks. 19 days later the smallest egg hatched, followed a day later by a large speckly one. They are kept in a box (which they are rapidly outgrowing) under a heat pad.
If they are females, we hope to incorporate them into our flock at the farm when their adult feathers have grown in and they can regulate their body heat independent of the pad.