Too late to join? I found this thread last night after fussing with the temperature setting on my homemade incubator. I set 31 eggs on May 10th, and was laughing to myself about obsessive candling and the impatience factor. I could totally relate. It wore off a little after day 12 or so. I started with 10 BCM and 10 Brown leghorns (BL?) 5 araucana and 6 Aussielorp.
All but the AOrps were bought at a huge outdoor fleamarket that is held several times a year near Budapest in Hungary where i now live. The others were from a breeder in a neighboring village. I couldn't figure out how to candle the BCM's either, but at about day 12 I found if I shined through the airsac I could make out which were clears - unfortunately half. One clear leghorn and one clear araucana. So I'm down to an even 2 dozen. I have no idea if the araucana breeder breeds tufted to tufted, I don't really care if they come out with rumps or tufts - I'm just doing this for the pure fun of it. I'd just hate to see them make it this far only to die at day 20 because they're Et/Et.
Thanks everyone for making these 21 days less of a "going it on my own" venture. Peeps are scheduled to hatch 31st or 1st depending on whether I've gotten the temp right consistently. Using a rather crude setup of lightbulb with a rigged USB fan connected to an old cellphone charger inside an incubator made of 2 inch thick styrofoam insulation they use for the outside of houses here. The bulb is connected to a dimmer cord I found at IKEA, and have a supposedly accurate analog thermometer/hygrometer in with the remote sensor from a small digital weatherstation so I can monitor the temp without constantly having to peek through the ventilation holes.
I know at least some of these little guys are still alive and kicking, but although I see lots of veining, especially in the araucanas, I don't always see them move - do they sleep? I'm curious to see what color the araucanas end up - I know it's always a gamble, but the guy who sold them said they were fogoly which is hungarian for partridge. As far as I know that's not a standard color. The closest thing would be gold duckwing. Please wish me luck. I hope it's not bad form to join a hatch when yours are supposed to pip before the one who started the thread!
Does anyone want to start a thread that lists all the acronyms! I've searched the site and can't find one.
My last hatch the chicks started hiding when I candled!! They went to the bottom of the egg and stayed still. The light really seemed to be scaring them! I use the Egg-lume high intensity candler and boy is it bright!!! Even after the chicks hatched they remembered that bright light and freaked whenever a bright light was shined on them! HANG IN THERE!
? That's the way I put it, others might not.
