Turkey Chick Hatching From an Egg Coloring Page

A newly hatched poult stands in the broken bottom half of its shell, seen from the side and facing right. The shell edge is drawn as a jagged line where it cracked apart. Look closely at the head and the small teardrop wattle under the beak is already there, which is the detail that makes this a baby turkey rather than a chicken. One unhatched egg rests on the ground beside the shell.

Soft is the right instinct for this page. Pale yellows and warm buffs suit a young bird, and pressing lightly with a colored pencil keeps the chick looking downy rather than solid. Leave the shell almost white and add nothing more than a faint gray along the broken edge, because the contrast between white shell and colored bird is what carries the whole drawing.

Hatching is slow work. A turkey egg incubates for about 28 days, and the poult inside needs the better part of a day to chip its way around the shell using an egg tooth, a small hard point on top of the beak that falls off within a week.