- Apr 14, 2011
- 580
- 4
- 121
I feel HORRIBLE. I've done called myself every name in the book, bad mouthed my electric and phone companies, and came close to chopping my incubator up with an axe.
Some of you may know I ordered some chicken eggs last week. I bought the only incubator that is sold in my area which is the Little Giant brand. I have not been able to get that thing to regulate where temperature is concerned. I have had to keep an eye on that thing almost 24/7 since I got it, and I have even been up every night at various times to adjust it. I have done everything I possibly know to do to give those eggs a chance to hatch.
Early last week our phones went out. Rain had gotten into the lines somewhere down the road. They fixed it Thursday.
Friday I ordered a new incubator which I was hoping would be here Monday. I called Monday to get the tracking number, but they had not mailed it out yet. Yesterday I have still not received a tracking number so I called to remind them to send me one. The guy wasn't in the office, but said he would get it sent to me by email. At 4:30 PM I still had not gotten it so I tried to call. We had gotten another rain and the phone was out again.
I got on this site earlier and I saw a post where someone had ordered the same incubator I am waiting on and it had gone bad after 21 days and the temps had sky rocketed to 140 F and stayed there. I thought, boy that sure is wonderful to find out. A couple others had responded who have the same incubator but they have had no trouble. Just then the power went out at my house. I had no phone to even call in the outage.
When ever the power goes out here it is usually in the same area every time. There is a series of farms several miles away the power lines go through, and since it is a very isolated place the power company cannot get their vehicles in there. They have to walk in. Well, actually they do not even do that. They show up, determine where the problem is, then have contractors from another state come in and fix it. Very seldom is it fixed within 24 hours. I have to sleep with a C-pap machine which I can't use when there is no power. I have bad enough time sleeping from pain, but when the power is off I can't sleep at all. And besides all that, without power my incubator was dead.
Thankfully Dad has a generator hooked up to run his house on during those occasions, so I ran down there to see if he was home. He was, he got it going and said for me to bring my incubator down. So I went to the shop and put it on the front seat. Lacey sat on the back seat with her hand on it to make double sure it didn't slide off into the floorboard. I drove 1 MPH all the way to Dad's, got it set up on a coffee table, and it was actually holding temperature for a change. Around midnight I decided to check it. It had gotten a little low, so I adjusted it. I got up to step outside and the cord got hung on my shoe and pulled the incubator off into the floor! Eggs scattered everywhere. Ten of them got busted, and there is no way to know if the rest of them didn't die from the fall. Needless to say, I was devastated. All that work, all that loss of sleep, all the waiting for eggs, and a new incubator--all down the drain.
I put the unbroken eggs back in the incubator along with 3 that are cracked. Took me half an hour to get the thing going near the right temps again. I broke open the remaining 8 eggs and 5 of them were not even fertile. The other three had little baby chickens in them about 1/4 inch long or so.
I just got back to the house and the power came on. I am thinking I am cursed where these eggs are concerned. But if I do by a miracle have one egg to hatch it will have to be one tough little chick. It would be just my luck to step on the little booger and kill it.
Well, do any of you think there is a chance any of those eggs will hatch?
Some of you may know I ordered some chicken eggs last week. I bought the only incubator that is sold in my area which is the Little Giant brand. I have not been able to get that thing to regulate where temperature is concerned. I have had to keep an eye on that thing almost 24/7 since I got it, and I have even been up every night at various times to adjust it. I have done everything I possibly know to do to give those eggs a chance to hatch.
Early last week our phones went out. Rain had gotten into the lines somewhere down the road. They fixed it Thursday.
Friday I ordered a new incubator which I was hoping would be here Monday. I called Monday to get the tracking number, but they had not mailed it out yet. Yesterday I have still not received a tracking number so I called to remind them to send me one. The guy wasn't in the office, but said he would get it sent to me by email. At 4:30 PM I still had not gotten it so I tried to call. We had gotten another rain and the phone was out again.
I got on this site earlier and I saw a post where someone had ordered the same incubator I am waiting on and it had gone bad after 21 days and the temps had sky rocketed to 140 F and stayed there. I thought, boy that sure is wonderful to find out. A couple others had responded who have the same incubator but they have had no trouble. Just then the power went out at my house. I had no phone to even call in the outage.
When ever the power goes out here it is usually in the same area every time. There is a series of farms several miles away the power lines go through, and since it is a very isolated place the power company cannot get their vehicles in there. They have to walk in. Well, actually they do not even do that. They show up, determine where the problem is, then have contractors from another state come in and fix it. Very seldom is it fixed within 24 hours. I have to sleep with a C-pap machine which I can't use when there is no power. I have bad enough time sleeping from pain, but when the power is off I can't sleep at all. And besides all that, without power my incubator was dead.
Thankfully Dad has a generator hooked up to run his house on during those occasions, so I ran down there to see if he was home. He was, he got it going and said for me to bring my incubator down. So I went to the shop and put it on the front seat. Lacey sat on the back seat with her hand on it to make double sure it didn't slide off into the floorboard. I drove 1 MPH all the way to Dad's, got it set up on a coffee table, and it was actually holding temperature for a change. Around midnight I decided to check it. It had gotten a little low, so I adjusted it. I got up to step outside and the cord got hung on my shoe and pulled the incubator off into the floor! Eggs scattered everywhere. Ten of them got busted, and there is no way to know if the rest of them didn't die from the fall. Needless to say, I was devastated. All that work, all that loss of sleep, all the waiting for eggs, and a new incubator--all down the drain.
I put the unbroken eggs back in the incubator along with 3 that are cracked. Took me half an hour to get the thing going near the right temps again. I broke open the remaining 8 eggs and 5 of them were not even fertile. The other three had little baby chickens in them about 1/4 inch long or so.
I just got back to the house and the power came on. I am thinking I am cursed where these eggs are concerned. But if I do by a miracle have one egg to hatch it will have to be one tough little chick. It would be just my luck to step on the little booger and kill it.
Well, do any of you think there is a chance any of those eggs will hatch?
