Hi everyone!
Last night was a bit of a drama... The power went out at 9:30pm, when we rang ETSA (the power company), they said it would be out until 2am! Oh no! I mean, we always have irregular power, but usually it only flickers a second or two and then comes back on. But in the past three weeks, we've had no less than 5 major blackouts (ranging from 3 to 8 hours in length).
Which is all very well for some, but when you've got three incubators running and 17 chicks that have just hatched and need heat, maybe all this power-outs could be a little more than just annoying? Like, fatal, for example?
Oh, and also, the power runs everything in our house. Including the water.
But I covered the incubators in several blankets and quilts, and when the power came back on at a little past midnight, it had only gone down about 4 degrees (and another chick had hatched). Hopefully the eggs due next week didn't suffer too badly.
The chicks were stashed in my bed at first (the electric blanket had been running so it was warm), and by the time the bed cooled down, we'd worked out how to boil some water (my sister's a scout; we stole her tranji) and filled a hot-water bottle for them. They managed all right with that and all seem to be alive (I can't see any dead ones, thank goodness, but doing a head-count isn't working).
Anyway, two more chicks hatched overnight, and one shortly after I woke up (hatched about 6:30 - mostly out when I got up and checked, but got completely out pretty quickly).
nbhatcher - I'm probably a little late to answer your question, but I would probably wait until the morning. Just because I'm lazy and almost always put things into lockdown late. But on the other hand, if you turn all day, and turn once immediately before putting into lockdown, that should be fine. And I should put my eggs into lockdown earlier, because I couple had already pipped when I did this time!
CALI CHICK - Congratulations! I usually give non-hatched eggs a couple of days, but that's just me. Maybe Day 24 or 25? It often happens with me that I think they've finished hatching because nothing pips for hours on end, and then I stop watching for an hour and three more hatch!
sweetlilbaby - I'm wondering about your comment about more pullets. Does incubating close together result in more females or somethin? I'm confused.
TheRookie - That's quite disappointing. I don't know much about duck eggs, though. My sister has a couple due today. She candled them about Day 10 and only one seemed to be developing, I don't know if she's candled them since. She's convinced they won't hatch. I hope they do, to be honest, but if they don't, I guess it's not her fault, we can blame ETSA for the five extra-long blackouts during incubation.
Wow, this is turning into a really long post. And I don't even have pictures. Sorry about that.
Anyway, I'm hoping I get a few more hatching today (today really is Hatch Day). But 17 yesterday and 3 already this morning is nothing to sneeze at. It's a much better hatch than I've ever had before (let's ignore the fact that 20 is less than 50% of 48) so I'm very happy.
I've also got another 48 that will go into lockdown next Monday or Tuesday (hopefully all the blackouts haven't effected them too badly), so they should hatch next Thursday (which probably means next Wednesday). I've got two dozen frizzle eggs which were given to me that need to go in as soon as I can get this incubator steralised and ready to go again, so I'll set another 48 eggs tomorrow or Saturday, which will then hatch about the 26th or 27th.
Maybe I'm compensating. My family wouldn't let me have chicks over winter, so these are my first chicks since May...
will have chicks a 3 weeks apart. that will be cool. then i'll be more likely to get pullets.
Not sure what to do. Might just end up with one chick this time. I've handled one before but then i'm worried just one chick then if it's a rooster. *sigh* 
