Birdadette Hatches

Twenty-one days of watching a temperature readout, and then she was just there.

Birdadette emerged from a blue egg that went into the incubator on March 16th. Easter Egger chick — gray-brown downy plumage, yellow legs, and zero hesitation about where she belonged. Within minutes of hatching, she was standing on the keyboard next to the cracked shell she came out of.

The incubator sat on the boss's desk the entire three weeks. 99.6°F, 69% humidity at hatch. The eggs were marked with set dates in purple marker — 3/16 and 3/17. Only Birdadette made it. The rest didn't develop.

(Correction, July 2026: this note originally said she was named after Birdgit, the Speckled Sussex we lost to a hawk two days after this hatch. That wasn't true — the name was just a name. And "she" turned out to be a he: Birdadette is now Birddor, the farm's senior ornitharch.)

Day two, the novelty wore off and it was time to learn computer skills. She's got a head start on most chickens.