What a roller-coaster this Spring/Summer has been. Many of you know that I've been thoroughly frustrated, to the point of tears, with my hatch rate on shipped eggs. Well, I kept trying... first with the silver grey and red dorkings - I got one chick of each breed out of 6 shipments. Then Cynthia (Speckledhen) sent me eggs from her Suede, Velvet and Skye. I have one absolutely BEAUTIFUL
blue (Sapphire) from the second shipment that she shared with me.
We tried SO hard to break my status as a "one chick wonder"... so hard. And I WILL try again in the Spring (thank you Cyn!!!)
And then Korfus Kluckers (Christina) sends me eggs, and out of 6 eggs that made it to the hatcher, only one chick, Sterling, made it.
But alas, it was not meant to be... Sterling was born blind, and I didn't catch it until it was too later... I still tear up when I think about it, that little chick had such a hold on my heart. :aww
Not one to give up easily, Christina sent me one last set, 18 more eggs, three weeks ago on a wing and a prayer. One was cracked, but 17 precious eggs went into the incubator. Day 6 I candled...looking good... Day 11 I candled... down to 13. Day 15 I candled again... all 13 still moving... I'm starting to get antsy.
Day 18, I candled them before putting them in the hatcher... one has a "?" on it, but the other 12 are active!
The waiting begins................ Tuesday night, 10:30pm .... PIP!
3:30am I'm awakened by it's arrival, and wha???? there's another pip! Sweet! #2 is out, and there's another pip! Woo hoo! Then all of a sudden, there's 5 more pips... WOW! I'm going to actually have a great hatch!!! Well, here it is, 6:20pm on Wednesday, 20 hours later, and I have 9 chicks in the brooder. NINE!!!!!!!!!!!
Not only did Christina break my OCW status, she blew it out of the water!!!!!
#8 and 9 are in the brooder resting after their ordeal, but here's the rest of the gang... every one of them is perfect... no curled toes, no blindness, PERFECT little chunkies.
OK, gang, let's line it up... (no! I don't wanna get my picture taken!!! *pout*
Almost... you, there, turn around!!!
Say "CHEESE!"
I am SO happy.... so very happy, and totally head over heels in love with these babies. What a way to end the hatching season, huh? I HAVE BBS ORPINGTONS!!!!!!!
We tried SO hard to break my status as a "one chick wonder"... so hard. And I WILL try again in the Spring (thank you Cyn!!!)
And then Korfus Kluckers (Christina) sends me eggs, and out of 6 eggs that made it to the hatcher, only one chick, Sterling, made it.
But alas, it was not meant to be... Sterling was born blind, and I didn't catch it until it was too later... I still tear up when I think about it, that little chick had such a hold on my heart. :aww
Not one to give up easily, Christina sent me one last set, 18 more eggs, three weeks ago on a wing and a prayer. One was cracked, but 17 precious eggs went into the incubator. Day 6 I candled...looking good... Day 11 I candled... down to 13. Day 15 I candled again... all 13 still moving... I'm starting to get antsy.
3:30am I'm awakened by it's arrival, and wha???? there's another pip! Sweet! #2 is out, and there's another pip! Woo hoo! Then all of a sudden, there's 5 more pips... WOW! I'm going to actually have a great hatch!!! Well, here it is, 6:20pm on Wednesday, 20 hours later, and I have 9 chicks in the brooder. NINE!!!!!!!!!!!
#8 and 9 are in the brooder resting after their ordeal, but here's the rest of the gang... every one of them is perfect... no curled toes, no blindness, PERFECT little chunkies.
OK, gang, let's line it up... (no! I don't wanna get my picture taken!!! *pout*
Almost... you, there, turn around!!!
Say "CHEESE!"
I am SO happy.... so very happy, and totally head over heels in love with these babies. What a way to end the hatching season, huh? I HAVE BBS ORPINGTONS!!!!!!!
