Incubating in my bra: An experiment.

[gander007]

OMG it would be only 12 days if Abe were to hatch on schedule. Almost half way to that mark already! Wow.

That's a big IF though. Last time I candled him I wasn't sure if there was any new progress from when I reported here. I'm not sure, but I suspect Abe has quit on me. I'm very new at all this, and I've never really candled before this experiment. And, of course, most hatches are only candled two or three times before lockdown, so the fact that Abe looked almost the same two days in a row may not mean anything at all.

On Christmas Eve I got a copy of Janet Stromberg's "A Guide To Better Hatching." I had ordered it hoping to read all the wonderful information it supposedly had on ancient techniques of body hatching in China and other places. I was disappointed, to say the least. Four pages at the back, with no citation, only conjecture and poor illustrations gleaned from old magazines and county extension handouts prior to 1950. One illustration in particular, an artist's interpretation of a Chinese man wearing a coat with masses of eggs in the pockets is less than useless from a research standpoint. However, the idea that there are some ancient incubators that use the heat generated by sheer masses of eggs developing was interesting.

That said, there's still some good information in that old book. For example, germ growth in the blastoderm starts at 68 degrees. 80 degrees is a high enough temperature to support some growth of the embryo, even when it's not enough heat to continue that growth for very long. When a hen is sitting on eggs, the eggs are only in contact with the hen on one side. The other side has got to be pulling some heat out of the egg. Of course, the hen's internal temperature is 107 degrees so... There's that.

Stromberg says that there's a high risk of deformities in chicks who are incubated at either a too high, or too low temperature. She indicates that a multi-stage incubator can be set as low as 96 degrees, but I think she meant that was only for the last few days of incubation. Most incubators, according to Stromberg, are set at about 99.5 degrees for the duration of the hatching. This, however, doesn't take into account the effect of the humidity on temperature. Stromberg has some charts that show the wet bulb reading for a successful hatch is closer to 90, with 94 degrees recommended during lock down.

So, (and here's the fun I'm sure some of you folks are here to read) I'm guessing (and it's ONLY a guess at this point) that the skin in my chest area is especially humid, particularly considering the fact that I'm wearing a sweater and a sweat shirt, and the eggs themselves have a bit of wool between themselves and my bra, the temperature in that area - which runs at an unvarying 97.7 degrees, is probably going to be just fine. The bigger issue may be keeping myself (and thus the large end of the eggs) upright during the crucial times when the chicks turn themselves to be ready to pip.

One more note on Stromberg's take on the history of body hatching: She concludes with this "Incubation by body heat is a crude possibility but we are sure that few of us could exercise that much patience" Which I will counter with this thought: Throughout history the women of many families have too often had to resort to whatever worked to keep the wolf away from the family's door. Often, also, they were in charge of garden and hen house. And, as a group, women's histories are very often overlooked and untold. So, with that, I would like to propose a new idea: That in historical times body incubation was done a great deal more frequently than we now imagine. When faced with four or five hens who won't brood, I can easily imagine the average pioneer woman giving this sort of thing a try, if only out of sheer desperation!

Also? Challenge accepted Ms. Stromberg! Challenge accepted!

Alright I was taking the grandkids out to dinner Friday evening and another family was sitting near by and I noticed one girl had a fake baby the monitored
how it was treated I sad interesting and her younger sister and her bf were taking care of this egg I thought I had not better mention this post and raise some kind of problem but I did let them talk about their little classroom project that the school had for them and wow was this some interesting things they teach but on the other hand what if one of the girls managed to hatch one would she get an A in her class for effort

gander007

 

[tlpounds]

I can't wait to hear the outcome.

 

[SampyArctica]

Reminds me of a book I read my girls all the time, "Are You My Mama?". About a duckling wandering and asking all the animals if they were his mother.

All I can think of is Doctor Who and the masked children, "Are you my Mummy?"

But on topic - definitely interested to see how this turns out!

 

[MargaretYakoda]

Gosh I wish I was more experienced at candling!
I'm still not sure if Egg Abe has quit or not. Egg Bibi, however, is definitely still developing. (Review: Bibi is two days younger than Abe)

I've been reading a lot about incubating. All sorts of admonishments to FOLLOW MANUFACTURE'S DIRECTIONS! and keep the humidity in a closely defined range. Wash your hands before even thinking of picking up an egg, and for Heaven's Sake!!! Do not forget to turn the egg (X times a day) but don't move the egg too suddenly or you'll addle it! Oh Noes! And, except for turning the eggs as often as I remember to do so, usually when they begin to itch, I have done none of these things. So, of course, at this point I'm thinking it will be a miracle if either egg hatches a strong healthy chick.

 

[Chic CAN]

if you clean your house once a day your eggs will be turned just fine... let alone getting dressed.

 

[Tammy N]

How do you candle those ?

Also are you gonna remove them once then start to pip ?

what if your in the grocery store and one goes cheep cheep ?

thinking on that what id the grociery store thinks you stold 2 of their eggs ? will they take your clutch ?

 

[Suzierd]

Gosh I wish I was more experienced at candling!
I'm still not sure if Egg Abe has quit or not. Egg Bibi, however, is definitely still developing.  (Review: Bibi is two days younger than Abe)

I've been reading a lot about incubating. All sorts of admonishments to FOLLOW MANUFACTURE'S DIRECTIONS! and keep the humidity in a closely defined range. Wash your hands before even thinking of picking up an egg, and for Heaven's Sake!!!  Do not forget to turn the egg (X times a day) but don't move the egg too suddenly or you'll addle it! Oh Noes!  And, except for turning the eggs as often as I remember to do so, usually when they begin to itch, I have done none of these things. So, of course, at this point I'm thinking it will be a miracle if either egg hatches a strong healthy chick.

I wouldn't give up on Abe, I've had a egg go completely cold and stuck it back under and it hatched. If you get to the point where you are going to give up at least do the water test first. Where you float them in warm water and you see a slight rocking its alive. Keep in mind even with this test they could be alive and not move, I had one that never moved a bit and still hatched. Remember it's been done before and worked.

 

[RockNSuccess]

All I can think of is Doctor Who and the masked children, "Are you my Mummy?" But on topic - definitely interested to see how this turns out!

***?

 

[Cknldy]

Broody hens don't follow incubator intructions Humidity and temps don't stay the same outside for 21 days for the chicks to hatch and miracle upon miracles have chirped into the world. I think your incubators are doing just fine!

 

[foreverlearning]

***?

Doctor Who season/series 1 episode 9 The Empty Child. You can watch it on Amazon, it will give you a whole new meaning to "Are you my mommy?".