Well, we had 8 eggs shipped, and AMAZINGLY after the PO shook and smashed the box, we had 6 hatch! Sadly, two of them died after pip, and after inspecting one of them, I'm convinced it was from the treatment of the eggs. They just weren't able to absorb the yolk sac all the way, even though they were fully formed and attempting to hatch. The four hatched are beautiful, and I have one super light one that I'm pretty excited about. So, that's four 5 week olds in the barn, and now these new ones. We won't be hatching much anymore. I'm positive we'll be moving in about three years, and it's sad enough I'll have to cull this whole flock, so I really don't want to keep hatching. I'm hoping with the Cinnamon Queens we have enough egg layers to last a while. I've told my husband we'll put off buying the expensive incubator. I actually still get really sad about the Mareks, something I have zero control over, but greatly affects my flock.
