First go-round with the incubator!

[ajneal30]

I have been following this because I have the same incubator, and funny story...I live in ELKO!

 

[Beanzie]

I have been following this because I have the same incubator, and funny story...I live in ELKO!

I just really love that town name. Forli was a town in Italy, so I went with another city name. It is a shame I lost the two of them. But I loved the name Elko as I know of a curly horse named "Elko Nevada." It sure is funny how some city names make the neatest names. Where I live there is lots of native influence so some of the city names would make neat names for horses. Just cannot sell them to the locals, as they'd think it was strange!

Well, I'm glad to hear someone using this as a reference. If you have any questions, feel free to ask if I have not answered them already.

...

Well, today I put my next coming batch into lockdown! Time has just been flying by, and considering my whole incubation/chicken rearing facility has moved into the room next door I only check them twice per day on a busy day. Rather than every time I go to the bathroom.

I have used a different technique for this lockdown, and I am hoping it will prove far more efficient than last time. I did a very religious dry hatch this time around - which isn't saying much knowing that dry hatches are considerably easier than trying to wrestle the humidity for the first couple weeks. I added no water, save a couple of sponges on day one and two, which I gave up on afterwards. For lockdown I put a nice mat down over the metal, and for humidity I filled the reservoirs at the bottom, plus added a short glass filled with water, and two sponges cut into long strips large enough to stay rigid.

Here's an ode to those visual learners like myself.


As you can see, I decided to put my eggs in cartons this time. Really no rhyme or reason to it, just seemed like something to try. I do appreciate the allure of keeping everything tidy. Especially considering I will be having staggered hatches, so it is very good to keep organized in this chaos to come.



And, because I have baby chickens: here are some pictures of baby chickens.

"*** is this on my foot?" Radio with a foot splint, as she still had a bit of curled foot going on. Although both Silkies have gotten over their splay legs wonderfully!

They look much cuter in pictures. Let me tell you, they are some ugly little cusses in broad daylight!

Kidding of course, I love them no matter if they are half-feathered or not. They've grown so fast!