Quote:
Yep ! My first pheasant chick hatched 2 hours ago ! Whew ! My first successful pheasant hatch. He's 2 days early, but I've read a lot of folks say they get early birds now and then. Just noticed another one pipping. They're on day 22 (pheasants lock down @ day 21, hatch around 24). So now I'm all excited and will stay up to see if any more pip/hatch tonight.
My first 2 tries on pheasant eggs didn't go well. First time I was too eager and opened the incubator too much. Plus I think I had the day 1-21 humidity too high (60 %). Read a couple of pheasant hatchers who said they did well with lower (53%) humidity for day 1-21, then run it up to 70% during the hatch. So far that's worked (1 whole chick !). So here's hoping the little guy who's pipping makes it and the rest of his 27 buddies follow along within the next 2 days.
By the way, I live in Washington state and have hatched banty eggs from the Carolinas, Florida and Missouri. Shipping can be really tough on eggs, I'm told, but I couldn't find eggs locally and got fair hatch rate from the "long distance" eggs.
Hang in there and keep an ear to your incubator! You'll hear them chirping away even before they pop out. Good luck!