3 days counting hours, 4 days counting days, lol.
So.... I am NEW to chickens and decided to take the chick by the waddles (bull by the horn) and jump into a bator when some black leghorns I purchased off Craigslist list unexpectedly laid. I wasn't even going to keep them until someone told me that they are hard to come by.
Well they have been home for over a month and have not laid because of the winter I guess. We figured we would wait until the spring and hatch some and then get rid of them. (The person sold them because they were bullies, wish I would have known before I drove 2 hours) On 12/24, I got an early Christmas present. A beautiful white egg! I brought it inside cleaned it gently and placed it on a towel on the kitchen counter. One of my 4 kids came by and grabbed the towel and you can imagine what the egg looked like. I literally cried!!! Nothing Christmas day then another egg 12/26, 12/28, and 12/30
. Then, the cold rain started for a few days. Kiss the egg laying goodbye.
In the mean time, since we had not anticipated purchasing an incubator until the spring, we made one from an ice chest. Thanks to everyone who posted pics and directions. Although since we were short on time we used a hot water heater thermo, but I am pretty happy that the swing isn't so bad even though the temp is generally 100.4. It doesn't get higher than that in checking the 2 thermometers which are on different sides of the 3 eggs. 2 fans was a good idea! The low does go down to 97.6 but not for very long, so I am hopeful.
We put them in at about 6 pm Sunday and I candled them tonight and the last 2 laid look spidery (Probably not a real word so we won't tell anyone I am a teacher
) The first one is hard to tell because it looks porous. But I am hopeful! This is soo exciting and I can say that I am hooked!
Did I forget to mention that my husband thinks I am CRAZY with these chickens? He tells me I spend more time and energy learning and reading on BYC, than I pay attention to him.
Poor soul.
So.... I am NEW to chickens and decided to take the chick by the waddles (bull by the horn) and jump into a bator when some black leghorns I purchased off Craigslist list unexpectedly laid. I wasn't even going to keep them until someone told me that they are hard to come by.
Well they have been home for over a month and have not laid because of the winter I guess. We figured we would wait until the spring and hatch some and then get rid of them. (The person sold them because they were bullies, wish I would have known before I drove 2 hours) On 12/24, I got an early Christmas present. A beautiful white egg! I brought it inside cleaned it gently and placed it on a towel on the kitchen counter. One of my 4 kids came by and grabbed the towel and you can imagine what the egg looked like. I literally cried!!! Nothing Christmas day then another egg 12/26, 12/28, and 12/30
In the mean time, since we had not anticipated purchasing an incubator until the spring, we made one from an ice chest. Thanks to everyone who posted pics and directions. Although since we were short on time we used a hot water heater thermo, but I am pretty happy that the swing isn't so bad even though the temp is generally 100.4. It doesn't get higher than that in checking the 2 thermometers which are on different sides of the 3 eggs. 2 fans was a good idea! The low does go down to 97.6 but not for very long, so I am hopeful.
We put them in at about 6 pm Sunday and I candled them tonight and the last 2 laid look spidery (Probably not a real word so we won't tell anyone I am a teacher
Did I forget to mention that my husband thinks I am CRAZY with these chickens? He tells me I spend more time and energy learning and reading on BYC, than I pay attention to him.
