Congratulations to those who have some early hatchers! Now I'm looking at my eggs and thinking "you slackers". lol I don't know how I missed it, but 1 egg was weeping and oozing and firmly stuck in the turner; had to remove the rail it was in and take it to the back forty to dispose of it....yuck! Was left with 67 of 76 eggs set. A good 2 dozen of those were too dark too candle, so who knows how many are actually viable and if I had any others that were questionable, I left those in too.
In the amusing anecdote category: I was sitting with the 6-week old chicks and as usual Tucker my young cattle dog was with me. When I first got chickens a year ago, Tucker killed a few of them, but has learned that's a no-no and is now pretty trustworthy. As he was laying there, the chicks got curious about that fur and several went up to him and started plucking out some fur. Well, Tucker was affronted and hopped up to go stand a few feet away, 1 little Wellie followed and soon I saw her craning her neck to look up at Tucker's back and within a second she had jumped up on his back. His head spun around and the look on his face was priceless, but bless him, he didn't make a move to hurt her and she jumped off and Tucker decided to go nap in a chicken free zone.
Happy hatching everyone!
If you were to estimate how much of your egg looks dark,
I liked your paper towel ring idea, but test them first. Put a normal refrigerator egg in one and give it a good hard knock with a finger. Can you knock it over? If so, the hatched chicks tearing around the incubator (yes, "tearing around" - they are quite rough) might knock them off and to the floor. If they sit nice and low in them and their center of gravity is below the line of the tube, it will probably work great.
Good job! I had some blood rings and weird air cells, too. Good luck with your hatch!
) Anyway, I love this!!!! Hilarious. Great idea, great execution!
