First chick -- quick photo

Mom got off the nest to chase another chicken away, so I got a quick photo. With this unexpectedly early hatch, we're scrambling to separate the mom and chicks from the other hens. Just now I shut the other chickens out of the henhouse and set up a roost and nesting box for them below.

This afternoon, I'm taking a crash course by reading on  BackyardChickens.com about this kind of situation, (called a "staggered hatch"). This can be a problem because the mother will want to leave the nest with the first chicks to show them where the food and water are, leaving the other eggs to get cold.  So to keep this from happening, we'll need to remove the chicks one by one as they hatch and bring them into a heated brooder. Then when the last eggs are hatching, we'll put them all back under their mother.