About the chicks needing a buddy, our daughter had hatched out about 18 white Silkie chicks and only wanted to keep one so she sold the others. When the others were taken away that chick pitched a fit. I told her what I had heard about using a mirror so she put one in the brooder with the chick and he stopped pitching a fit and started acting like there was another chick with him. She was hatching other Silkie eggs so when they hatched she put the new chicks in with him and removed the mirror.So this is scientific? I'm not meaning to be cynical, just curious.
Also, for the spreadsheet suite, I know that @ronott1 described this but I'm trying to set up the "Start collecting eggs..." portion of the incubation station sheet so, what is the optimal time to start gathering eggs for a new set? I'm thinking 7 days was the optimal but that could have been my own personal interpretation.