Now that I have made almost every Newbie mistake possible, mostly due to not doing enough, if any research before I acted......
I'm going to tell on myself and hopefully save someone else from these same follies.....
1. never bother to check if incubator works, after being given one, until you need to use it.
2. assume that it doesn't need any adjusting.
3. plug it in, load in eggs, and pray. don't know what temp it is supposed to be at, if temp can be adjusted, or how to adjust it.
4. didn't even know it needed to have water added, etc.
5. mix soon to hatch eggs with fresh-laid eggs all into auto-turner.
6. forget to check thru windows before leaving house for several hours.
7. come home to find new hatched chick cheeping around in the auto-turner and has gotten foot stuck in auto-turner.
Kids promptly remove lid from incubator, and catch chick just as it begins fall to the floor. [don't find any injury or damage, but will know better in morning]
8. have no back-up plan incase Mama Hen's abandons babies actually hatch.
9. build impromptu brooder from clamp-light with 40watt bulb, and cardboard box inside of chicken-proof cage set in floor of henhouse.
Let's see.... did I leave anything out?..... Nope, that about does it for one hatching.....
still have two or three eggs that might hatch out in the next couple days. I'll definately be watching the incubator a lot closer for the next 72 hours or so.
The rest of the abandoned eggs appear to be either infertile, or only a week in at most.
If this poor little chick lives thru the next 48 hours, I'm truthfully going to be amazed.
Kathy
I'm going to tell on myself and hopefully save someone else from these same follies.....
1. never bother to check if incubator works, after being given one, until you need to use it.
2. assume that it doesn't need any adjusting.
3. plug it in, load in eggs, and pray. don't know what temp it is supposed to be at, if temp can be adjusted, or how to adjust it.
4. didn't even know it needed to have water added, etc.
5. mix soon to hatch eggs with fresh-laid eggs all into auto-turner.
6. forget to check thru windows before leaving house for several hours.
7. come home to find new hatched chick cheeping around in the auto-turner and has gotten foot stuck in auto-turner.
Kids promptly remove lid from incubator, and catch chick just as it begins fall to the floor. [don't find any injury or damage, but will know better in morning]
8. have no back-up plan incase Mama Hen's abandons babies actually hatch.
9. build impromptu brooder from clamp-light with 40watt bulb, and cardboard box inside of chicken-proof cage set in floor of henhouse.
Let's see.... did I leave anything out?..... Nope, that about does it for one hatching.....
still have two or three eggs that might hatch out in the next couple days. I'll definately be watching the incubator a lot closer for the next 72 hours or so.
The rest of the abandoned eggs appear to be either infertile, or only a week in at most.
If this poor little chick lives thru the next 48 hours, I'm truthfully going to be amazed.
Kathy
