So I feel like I need Nova to write a summary of what has happened since I apparently fell off the BYC map. Because as some of you may remember, I don't condense well at all when I write. Let's see how well I can hit the high points. And every teeny little point in between...
When last we heard from yorkchick, (yes I am frickin well doing this in third person, just go with it) she was expecting a dozen shipped eggs from a BYCer from Oklahoma, and confidently assuming she would just put the "best" four under her tiny little broody hen Edna, and give away or discard the rest. She was also letting Libby the goose sit on two goose eggs. And her DH had been laid off.
Well, the Oklahoma eggs came--six blue/black Ameraucana eggs, 10 Easter Eggers (the seller sent extras). They arrived on a Thursday. Yorkchick who sadly knows enough to be dangerous about incubation, although her only previous experience was letting Edna hatch a few eggs yorkchick had picked up from Farmerboy last spring, candled the shipped eggs. And was appalled at the state of the air cells. Yorkchick did not even know to check air cells last year. These eggs were very well packed, but they must have had a rough trip. Only a few had any kind of air cell at the large end, and even those had other air cells elsewhere. But BYC came through. Yorkchick looked up the directions for shipped eggs with damaged air cells that muttsfan had posted from aveca before the Easter hatchalong. Hmmmm, not going to be able to persuade Edna not to turn the eggs for 7 days. Not going to get her to position them big end up, either.
So, yorkchick suddenly needs an incubator. TSC has still air models. Which by many accounts kind of suck. Now yorkchick who had no intention of ever getting an incubator, since she has Edna, has also in the past spent many unproductive hours researching incubators. Even though she would never need one, she knew that she would like a Brinsea 20 Advance EX with the automatic humidity and all that crap. She would also like 80 acres of pasture and a big red gambrel roof barn. She's not getting that either. But part of this daydream of incubators that she had no need for would be for a less fancy model with more head room to be the hatcher. And that would be a Hovabator 1588.
Yorkchick could order this. But it's already late Thursday, and the shipped eggs are not getting any fresher, and the broody hen has already been sitting on wooden eggs for over a week waiting for the real thing. Yorkchick finds the best price on the 1588 is Cutler's Supply, In, holy crap, Michigan! Friday morning Yorkchick calls Cutler's. Why yes, they do take walk in customers as well as mail and online orders. Applegate, Michigan. East side of the state. A mere three hours on the road, and yorkchick had the 1588 in her hands. (Of course, three more hours to get home). Luckily, yorkchick drives a Prius, so gas is like, free. Yorkchick likes to tell herself this, anyway.
Hovabator set up Friday. 12 of the eggs go in early Saturday. The four of eggs with the "best" looking air cells go to Edna. Meanwhile yorkchick is obsessively researching incubation, especially dry incubation, on BYC and elsewhere. Fearing that no eggs will hatch. Fearing that all the eggs will hatch.
Meanwhile, Libby the goose (remember Libby?) is doing her faithful sitting thing, on two real eggs and two wooden eggs, plus she rolls every egg that Penelope lays into her nest too. But yorkchick is wise to her and takes the new eggs away. Libby is surprisingly tolerant of being messed with on the nest while yorkchick checks it for extra eggs. At first yorkchick has to hold her beak aside while she checks. Very soon Libby just politely raises her body up a little bit when yorkchick puts a hand under her.
And in other developments, yorkchick's DH (remember the DH?) is generating all kinds of interest in the job market. Seriously. Unfortunately, most of it is coming from out of state. A company in Arizona actually flies DH out for three days to interview and check out the area. Yorkchick tells the DH that she doesn't know if the geese would like Arizona. In the end, not to build up the suspense unbearably, DH accepts an offer from Ford to work on an autonomous vehicle, a project being run by an old friend of his from grad school days. In Dearborn. I credit the Fairy Goosemother, once again. (Also this means that yorkchick's driving all over the state and buying incubators is not going to tip the household into bankruptcy, luckily). (For those of you to which this had occurred).
Back to the drama of the shipped eggs. (Yeah, right, no one's even left reading at this point anyway, yorkchick). Yorkchick candled at day 7. Eight eggs looked goodish, four maybes, four probably bad. At 7 days the air cells seemed better, mostly at the large end of the eggs, but still wobbly. Egg turner on. By day 15, yorkchick (who has obsessively upgraded her candler to a Brinsea High Intensity OvaScope because she is like that) is pretty sure she has 10 developing embryos, and the air cells seem solid. (The OvaScope shows more detail but does not change her conclusions). Yorkchick, who can't leave well enough alone, feels compelled to switch out some of the Edna eggs with the incubator eggs, and vice versa, trying to give Edna the most likely to hatch. Wait, holy crap, if 10 hatch can little Edna actually keep 10 large fowl babies warm? Not to mention, this would literally double the chicken population at the yorkchick estate!
Day 18 was this last Wednesday. Yorkchick had to go to a continuing ed class in Troy for some reason that seemed reasonable when she signed up for the class last February. She runs out of the house without increasing the humidity or removing the turner, because you lock down for the "last 2 or 3 days" and it's just barely day 18, so after getting home in the afternoon will be soon enough. Right? When yorkchick gets home, the first chick is hatched and bombing around the incubator. Yorkchick belatedly takes out the turner and adds water. The first chick stumbles enthusiastically all over the other eggs, knocking them all over the place. Great. After dark, yorkchick takes the lone chick out and gives it to Edna, Both seem happy. The next day (day 19), Edna has one more egg hatch under her. By day 20, Edna leaves the remaining eggs on which she has been sitting to follow the two troublemakers around the brooder crate, the better to scold them. Yorkchick moves the remaining eggs, one of which has pipped and three of which are peeping, to the incubator to join the rest of the unhatched eggs. As further chicks hatch, they are moved from Hovabator to Ednabrooder.
Yes, yorkchick has heard that Lockdown means Lockdown. And there was far too much opening of that incubator for any rational person. But as the chicks hatched, they were smashing around in there and upsetting the other eggs and rolling them around. So that can't be too good for an embryo that's trying to orient itself to hatching position, either. Yorkchick did try putting them into a little cardboard box in the Hovabator right after hatch and putting a piece of cloth over them while they dried, which calmed them down, but that also involved opening the 'bator to move them to the box. Not saying it was the right choice.
Anyway, in the end, there were six chicks hatched, day 18 through day 21 (which was yesterday)--three blue or black Ameraucanas, two yellow EEs. and a yellow EE with gray racing stripes down its back. The Hovabator is still running but yorkchick does not hold out much or any hope for the remaining eggs. She is just dragging her feet on doing the eggtopsies. And six, it turns out, is exactly the number of chicks she wanted. Funny how that turned out.
Yorkchick now returns you to your regularly scheduled posts.
(edited for clarity, or maybe just because it wasn't long enough the first time).
When last we heard from yorkchick, (yes I am frickin well doing this in third person, just go with it) she was expecting a dozen shipped eggs from a BYCer from Oklahoma, and confidently assuming she would just put the "best" four under her tiny little broody hen Edna, and give away or discard the rest. She was also letting Libby the goose sit on two goose eggs. And her DH had been laid off.
Well, the Oklahoma eggs came--six blue/black Ameraucana eggs, 10 Easter Eggers (the seller sent extras). They arrived on a Thursday. Yorkchick who sadly knows enough to be dangerous about incubation, although her only previous experience was letting Edna hatch a few eggs yorkchick had picked up from Farmerboy last spring, candled the shipped eggs. And was appalled at the state of the air cells. Yorkchick did not even know to check air cells last year. These eggs were very well packed, but they must have had a rough trip. Only a few had any kind of air cell at the large end, and even those had other air cells elsewhere. But BYC came through. Yorkchick looked up the directions for shipped eggs with damaged air cells that muttsfan had posted from aveca before the Easter hatchalong. Hmmmm, not going to be able to persuade Edna not to turn the eggs for 7 days. Not going to get her to position them big end up, either.
So, yorkchick suddenly needs an incubator. TSC has still air models. Which by many accounts kind of suck. Now yorkchick who had no intention of ever getting an incubator, since she has Edna, has also in the past spent many unproductive hours researching incubators. Even though she would never need one, she knew that she would like a Brinsea 20 Advance EX with the automatic humidity and all that crap. She would also like 80 acres of pasture and a big red gambrel roof barn. She's not getting that either. But part of this daydream of incubators that she had no need for would be for a less fancy model with more head room to be the hatcher. And that would be a Hovabator 1588.
Yorkchick could order this. But it's already late Thursday, and the shipped eggs are not getting any fresher, and the broody hen has already been sitting on wooden eggs for over a week waiting for the real thing. Yorkchick finds the best price on the 1588 is Cutler's Supply, In, holy crap, Michigan! Friday morning Yorkchick calls Cutler's. Why yes, they do take walk in customers as well as mail and online orders. Applegate, Michigan. East side of the state. A mere three hours on the road, and yorkchick had the 1588 in her hands. (Of course, three more hours to get home). Luckily, yorkchick drives a Prius, so gas is like, free. Yorkchick likes to tell herself this, anyway.
Hovabator set up Friday. 12 of the eggs go in early Saturday. The four of eggs with the "best" looking air cells go to Edna. Meanwhile yorkchick is obsessively researching incubation, especially dry incubation, on BYC and elsewhere. Fearing that no eggs will hatch. Fearing that all the eggs will hatch.
Meanwhile, Libby the goose (remember Libby?) is doing her faithful sitting thing, on two real eggs and two wooden eggs, plus she rolls every egg that Penelope lays into her nest too. But yorkchick is wise to her and takes the new eggs away. Libby is surprisingly tolerant of being messed with on the nest while yorkchick checks it for extra eggs. At first yorkchick has to hold her beak aside while she checks. Very soon Libby just politely raises her body up a little bit when yorkchick puts a hand under her.
And in other developments, yorkchick's DH (remember the DH?) is generating all kinds of interest in the job market. Seriously. Unfortunately, most of it is coming from out of state. A company in Arizona actually flies DH out for three days to interview and check out the area. Yorkchick tells the DH that she doesn't know if the geese would like Arizona. In the end, not to build up the suspense unbearably, DH accepts an offer from Ford to work on an autonomous vehicle, a project being run by an old friend of his from grad school days. In Dearborn. I credit the Fairy Goosemother, once again. (Also this means that yorkchick's driving all over the state and buying incubators is not going to tip the household into bankruptcy, luckily). (For those of you to which this had occurred).
Back to the drama of the shipped eggs. (Yeah, right, no one's even left reading at this point anyway, yorkchick). Yorkchick candled at day 7. Eight eggs looked goodish, four maybes, four probably bad. At 7 days the air cells seemed better, mostly at the large end of the eggs, but still wobbly. Egg turner on. By day 15, yorkchick (who has obsessively upgraded her candler to a Brinsea High Intensity OvaScope because she is like that) is pretty sure she has 10 developing embryos, and the air cells seem solid. (The OvaScope shows more detail but does not change her conclusions). Yorkchick, who can't leave well enough alone, feels compelled to switch out some of the Edna eggs with the incubator eggs, and vice versa, trying to give Edna the most likely to hatch. Wait, holy crap, if 10 hatch can little Edna actually keep 10 large fowl babies warm? Not to mention, this would literally double the chicken population at the yorkchick estate!
Day 18 was this last Wednesday. Yorkchick had to go to a continuing ed class in Troy for some reason that seemed reasonable when she signed up for the class last February. She runs out of the house without increasing the humidity or removing the turner, because you lock down for the "last 2 or 3 days" and it's just barely day 18, so after getting home in the afternoon will be soon enough. Right? When yorkchick gets home, the first chick is hatched and bombing around the incubator. Yorkchick belatedly takes out the turner and adds water. The first chick stumbles enthusiastically all over the other eggs, knocking them all over the place. Great. After dark, yorkchick takes the lone chick out and gives it to Edna, Both seem happy. The next day (day 19), Edna has one more egg hatch under her. By day 20, Edna leaves the remaining eggs on which she has been sitting to follow the two troublemakers around the brooder crate, the better to scold them. Yorkchick moves the remaining eggs, one of which has pipped and three of which are peeping, to the incubator to join the rest of the unhatched eggs. As further chicks hatch, they are moved from Hovabator to Ednabrooder.
Yes, yorkchick has heard that Lockdown means Lockdown. And there was far too much opening of that incubator for any rational person. But as the chicks hatched, they were smashing around in there and upsetting the other eggs and rolling them around. So that can't be too good for an embryo that's trying to orient itself to hatching position, either. Yorkchick did try putting them into a little cardboard box in the Hovabator right after hatch and putting a piece of cloth over them while they dried, which calmed them down, but that also involved opening the 'bator to move them to the box. Not saying it was the right choice.
Anyway, in the end, there were six chicks hatched, day 18 through day 21 (which was yesterday)--three blue or black Ameraucanas, two yellow EEs. and a yellow EE with gray racing stripes down its back. The Hovabator is still running but yorkchick does not hold out much or any hope for the remaining eggs. She is just dragging her feet on doing the eggtopsies. And six, it turns out, is exactly the number of chicks she wanted. Funny how that turned out.
Yorkchick now returns you to your regularly scheduled posts.
(edited for clarity, or maybe just because it wasn't long enough the first time).
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Congrats on the chicks to hatch, and your DH getting the job!
I have tried sooo many things, it's frustrating to be so close but not where i want to be with this. 
