On weekends, they hatched chickens or went hunting for hares.

周末，他们孵小鸡或是出去打野兔。

youdao

Don't count your chickens before they are hatched.

蛋尚未孵出，勿先数鸡。

《新英汉大辞典》

The moral of this story is: Don't count your chickens before they are hatched.

这个故事的寓意是：鸡未孵出先别数。

youdao

She counts her chickens before they are hatched.

VOA: special.2010.06.13

Second, the present Baker logic appears to be a classic case of counting the proverbial chickens before they are hatched.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: At What Price Arms Control Agreements?

As a close observer of the debate over defense spending now consuming this Committee, its House counterpart and countless other organizations and forums in Washington and elsewhere, I have the unsettling sensation that I am witnessing a binge by people determined to count the proverbial chickens before they are hatched.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Can The United States Afford Not To Be Properly Defended?