those of you stressing about your incubator hatch rate ... don't feel so bad
Blondie the EE was sitting on 19 eggs ... I didn't find the nest until she had them mostly all laid, and didn't know enough to mark them so I could snitch the newest-laid
final result: 8 live active peeping chicks .... 1 egg which must have stopped developing very early ... it was lightweight so I cracked it -- just a tiny speck of embryo but no yolk ! -- and ten eggs which weren't moving nor peeping 3 days after the first chicks appear to have hatched
8 out of 19 --- that's not even 50%
just in case, though --- Black Maria went broody just then, but she was sitting on only ONE egg, and that one at least ten days old ... so I tucked Blondie's unhatched unpipped eggs under her, we'll see what happens
for those keeping track, Black Maria had laid at least 21 eggs before she began to brood ... 18 in the carton in the fridge, and a couple that I'd eaten already
Candy
in Washington state -- chicks on Maui -- miss them dreadfully
Blondie the EE was sitting on 19 eggs ... I didn't find the nest until she had them mostly all laid, and didn't know enough to mark them so I could snitch the newest-laid
final result: 8 live active peeping chicks .... 1 egg which must have stopped developing very early ... it was lightweight so I cracked it -- just a tiny speck of embryo but no yolk ! -- and ten eggs which weren't moving nor peeping 3 days after the first chicks appear to have hatched
8 out of 19 --- that's not even 50%
just in case, though --- Black Maria went broody just then, but she was sitting on only ONE egg, and that one at least ten days old ... so I tucked Blondie's unhatched unpipped eggs under her, we'll see what happens
for those keeping track, Black Maria had laid at least 21 eggs before she began to brood ... 18 in the carton in the fridge, and a couple that I'd eaten already
Candy
in Washington state -- chicks on Maui -- miss them dreadfully
