Hourray!! Yesterday night I had two eggs pipping and chirping. I suppose they will hatch before I come home from work today.
It is my first real batch. I incubated eggs when I was a teen, in a box with a light.. we had a 6 hour power outage and it was in february, so they all died except a rooster and a quail. We kept them a long time, they were adult when my dad gave them to a farm.
Then, I grew up and bought a real incubator
Last time I incubated 14 or 16 eggs.. only one was fertile. It died in the first 12 hours after hatching (my fault.. cat problem... I posted that somewhere else. Not a cute story).
So after my failure on the first time, now my incubator is secured in a ferret cage and also in my bathroom with the door closed. Cat CANNOT get in!
So I am hoping that all goes well. I tried to plan it so they hatched friday, so I could be home on friday night and saturday morning in case anything goes bad. Now I'm at work and hope nature will do its thing.
I saw only two pipping. I have about 8 eggs that could be fertile (I have trouble candling brown eggs). I used the water candling method and wasn't 100% sure they were all moving so the number of chick will be a surprise.
It is SO CUTE when they chirp and are still in the egg! Looks like they are talking to their "mamma".
- I'll be there soon Mom!
I'll post some pics! I am sure they will look like all the other baby chicks on the planet, but I am happy to have a first hatch so I will share anyway
.
What I find interesting is that there could be many different fathers. I had 20 meat birds and they grew to about 4-5 months, so I am not sure who fertilized the eggs. I kept one rooster only, and had only him when I gathered the eggs to incubate, but from what I read the sperm can remain viable inside the hen for 3 weeks, so some eggs could be from another "donor" than my rooster. I wonder if I will see the differences in the chicks.
It is my first real batch. I incubated eggs when I was a teen, in a box with a light.. we had a 6 hour power outage and it was in february, so they all died except a rooster and a quail. We kept them a long time, they were adult when my dad gave them to a farm.
Then, I grew up and bought a real incubator
Last time I incubated 14 or 16 eggs.. only one was fertile. It died in the first 12 hours after hatching (my fault.. cat problem... I posted that somewhere else. Not a cute story).
So after my failure on the first time, now my incubator is secured in a ferret cage and also in my bathroom with the door closed. Cat CANNOT get in!
So I am hoping that all goes well. I tried to plan it so they hatched friday, so I could be home on friday night and saturday morning in case anything goes bad. Now I'm at work and hope nature will do its thing.
I saw only two pipping. I have about 8 eggs that could be fertile (I have trouble candling brown eggs). I used the water candling method and wasn't 100% sure they were all moving so the number of chick will be a surprise.
It is SO CUTE when they chirp and are still in the egg! Looks like they are talking to their "mamma".
- I'll be there soon Mom!
I'll post some pics! I am sure they will look like all the other baby chicks on the planet, but I am happy to have a first hatch so I will share anyway
.What I find interesting is that there could be many different fathers. I had 20 meat birds and they grew to about 4-5 months, so I am not sure who fertilized the eggs. I kept one rooster only, and had only him when I gathered the eggs to incubate, but from what I read the sperm can remain viable inside the hen for 3 weeks, so some eggs could be from another "donor" than my rooster. I wonder if I will see the differences in the chicks.
