Remember the nest we told you about the other day, when “a swallow came to Fortune Inn”?

In that little home above the post, new life has finally arrived.

Where there were once only eggs, rows of little yellow beaks now line the rim.

If you read our earlier story, think of this as the next chapter. And if this is your first time here, start here.

Related article : A little spring visitor that brings good luck has arrived at Fortune Inn

About two weeks after incubation began, we peeked into the nest one morning to find the scene completely changed.

Newborn chicks haven’t even opened their eyes yet.

Their heads are about the size of a little fingertip, with only the faintest down.

Down alone can’t keep them warm, so the parent gently wraps around them to hold in the heat, just as it did with the eggs.

From those tiny eggs, real life emerges.

No matter how many times we see it, looking up at the nest fills us right up.

wallow chicks grow incredibly fast. Skip a few days of checking in, and you’ll catch yourself thinking, “Wait, already this big?”

Around ten days to two weeks after hatching, dark specks—the beginnings of feathers—start to appear across their bodies.

Right now, the chicks in the nest are at exactly this stage.

A hard-to-describe mix of blackish feather shafts and soft, fluffy down.

They barely move yet, but they react clearly to the sound of a parent’s returning wingbeats.

The moment they all turn their yellow-rimmed beaks toward you at once is impossible to resist.

As they grow further, the chicks start resting their chins on the edge of the nest, waiting for a parent to return.

By now you can clearly see their faces even from below.

Glance up above the intercom, and a tiny face meets your eyes.

This is the season when guests can’t help but stop and reach for their phones.

During this stretch, the hardest workers by far are the parent birds.

Watching them, you can’t help but feel humbled.

A parent raising chicks flies for about thirteen hours a day, bringing back food at a pace of some forty trips an hour.

A single chick eats roughly 100 insects a day.

And with several mouths to feed, the parents’ workload is beyond imagining.

They snatch flying insects—mosquitoes, flies, horseflies—right out of the air as they fly.

Watching them care for their young, you understand exactly why swallows have long been cherished as “beneficial birds.”

Charming, yes, but tough and tireless too.

From hatching to first flight takes about three weeks. Eating all that food, the chicks shoot up until they’re nearly as big as their parents.

As the day approaches, the parents call to the chicks from a little distance, or hover near the nest, coaxing them out into the wider world.

A freshly fledged chick won’t drop to the ground; it flutters clumsily up to a wire and keeps practicing its flying while the parents still bring it food.

Watching the whole thing unfold, right by the entrance.

That’s a sight reserved for those who come to Fortune Inn at just this time of year.

One small request.

So the chicks and parents aren’t startled, please never touch the nest, and watch over them gently from a little distance. We’d be very grateful.

As we mentioned last time, Fortune Inn is home to one more lucky charm besides the swallows.

The carp, a symbol of success and advancement.

A lucky swallow family in the sky, an ambitious carp in the water.

Only now, in this stretch from spring into early summer when small lives are growing up, do both good-luck symbols come together in one place.

Why swallows are considered lucky, and why they build their nests right by the entrance—our earlier story covers it in detail.

Read both together, and watching the chicks becomes all the more fun.

Related article : A little spring visitor that brings good luck has arrived at Fortune Inn

If you’re lucky enough to witness the moment they leave the nest, it’s sure to become an unforgettable memory.

Come watch this fleeting spring story unfold with us, here at Fortune Inn.