<p style="text-align:center;"><em>A Guest Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara</em></p>
We hatched more chicks last week.<a href="https://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/new-chicks.png"><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-4989" src="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/new-chicks.png?w=300" alt="new chicks" width="300" height="169" /></a>

Twenty-one of them hatched all on their own. There was one, however, who just couldn’t seem to get out of his shell.

The normal process is for the chicks to “pip” or poke a hole in the shell then they “zip” a line all the way around the shell. Once the line is complete, they can “pop” off the top of the shell and make their entrance into the world.

This chick had pipped and partially zipped. We waited 24 hours and there was still no progress.

We could hear him cheeping so we knew he was still alive. Rachel gently removed the egg and carefully helped the chick out.  He was in the shell upside down so he couldn’t finish zipping and push his way out.

We let him dry and put him with the other chicks in the brooder. He was a little uncoordinated. The other chicks were not particularly welcoming and he protested loudly in his new home. After a few hours, he was accepted and now it is hard to tell which one he is.

I named him Leo after the lion in the book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Leo-Late-Bloomer-Robert-Kraus/dp/006443348X/" target="_blank">Leo the Late Bloomer </a>by Robert Kraus, illustrated by Jose Aruego.

I enjoy watching the chicks. They sleep with their heads down on the wire.  It makes me a little nervous because they look dead.

So I hit the top of the brooder and wake them up. They are not happy.I apologize and tell them I’m just “chicken” on them.

I want to introduce them to the Miller sense of humor while they are still young.