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LOL... Don't feel bad.. My husband only wanted 4-7 hens for eggs.. Well, we got 5 the first time around, I picked out 3 chicks and he picked out 2 that were about a month old.. One that he picked out died 3 days after we got her... The other one he picked out turned out to be a roo... Luckily, the chicks that I picked out were all pullets...
THEN, I wanted to incubate... I built an incubator and my son and I watched through candling the babies growing.. Two out of 18 made it to day 21 but because i was inexperienced and the temps would fluctuate so badly, neither hatched, only one of which pipped through the air cell... Well, I just couldn't let my son watch for three weeks for nothing.. So, off to the feed store I went and picked up 6 barred rocks... Two of those ended up being roos so i got rid of one and kept one.. So, then we were up to 9... More than my hubby wanted in the first place....
THEN... In april of last year, I wanted to incubate again because I refused to fail!! If at first you don't succeed, try try again... Right?!?!?! LOL... So, I found someone to send me some eggs and put a few more from my girls in there and had a total of 36... Out of those, 26 or 27 hatched!! I was going to sell them all but there were a few that were special... One I helped hatch and had to nurse for several days because she was shrink wrapped.. I kept her and half the shell wrapped in a wet towel for 2 days, then for the next three days, I had to force feed her vitamin water because she could not walk and everytime she tried to stand, she would flop onto her side and act like she was having seizures... I was determined not to give up on her.. She will be 9 months old on April 14 and I absolutely LOVE her eggs.. Her name is Miracle and she is an americauna/RIR cross!! And then there is Shikoba (Koby for short) who is a beautiful black Americauna/dark brahma bantam and her feathers shine green.. She was the only chick I had that was feather footed... I just couldn't sell her.... Then there were the only two delawares that hatched... I didn't know if they were pullets or roos but i had to keep both to see if I got a pullet, right?? Well, unfortunately both were roos so I got rid of one and kept the other.. The one I kept is named "Snowball".... So, now I am up to 17.... WAAAAAAAY more than hubby originally wanted...
Now I am incubating again!!! I have 64 eggs set and I KNOW 49 of them are alive.. The other 15 I won't know for a few more days because they've only been in there for 2 days... My husband keeps telling me, "NO!" but, I will keep at least a few of them!! Especially if I get anymore feather footed chicks or if i need to nurse any... I just can't part with the "special" ones...
Goddess
