Good morning fellow chicken lovers! I feel like I'm a father pacing in the waiting room waiting for this birth! One month ago...I made two homemade incubators (Styrofoam cooler and light bulb with sponges for humidity) I placed 9 of my friends chicken eggs into bator #1. I had ordered 10 eggs on ebay and 4 days later I placed them in bator #2. I was able to get two successful hatches from #1. (currently 4 days old and doing well) Temperature and humidity fluctuated in spite of my vigilance... Then within the first 24 hours bator #2 was VERY hard to get any stability at all. When I got up the next morning...temp was 108! OH NO! I've cooked the kids! Throughout the whole incubation process I lost all but three after candling at 7, 10, 14, and 18 days...After the hatching in incubator #1...I transferred the remaining three viable eggs into the first incubator ( it was more stable than #2) I was amazed that I had anything viable after low humidity and high temps. Two days ago, I candled then float tested one...it was gone. (I know...I'm doing this during "lock down" BAD MOMMY! I had two viable eggs yesterday...(movement with candling). Then last night I candled again. No movement in one egg...lost that one. Then I picked up the last viable egg....I'm hearing CHIRPING inside with NO external pipping. Today: external pip with chirping. I'm really hoping this one lone surviving egg makes it...THAT WILL BE A MIRACLE after everything it's been through. Now it's a waiting game and I don't do well at that. As an retired OB Nurse...I feel like I'm on standby to do a c/section at any given moment at the first sign of distress. That's one reason I'm posting now...I'm trying to occupy myself doing other things. This is my very first time attempting this and it's been an incredible learning experience. I've learned to do's and don'ts that's for sure! This adventure has me hooked though and my next attempt at hatching will be with a manufactured incubator with auto turner...high/low alarms...pre-set temperature...built in humidifier with fan...auto lockdown with environmental control...pipping notifier...and a music box that plays a "Lullaby" with each successful hatch. OK...that just took up some time....I'm going in for another look.
One small pip to the outside world (very tiny) but it's chirping. Will update in a few hours.
One small pip to the outside world (very tiny) but it's chirping. Will update in a few hours.
