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Very interesting info. Twigg you seem very knowledgeable about chickens...How long have you had them and where do you learn all this info?
Well now ... some background.
I first got involved in hatching and rearing working on a Duck farm, in the UK, for a few years in the mid-seventies. I was involved in the whole process from collecting eggs, setting in three, 4000 egg incubators, rearing chicks and shipping day-olds (lot's to Argentina)
I was also involved in preparing the birds from live to market ready.
Since then I have kept chickens, on and off, all my life. I have hatched chickens, ducks and geese with generally decent success.
I have used a number of different incubators. My first was an elderly Vision still air. I bought a
Brinsea Octagon 20 (my fav. which I left in the UK). I have used Hovabators and built several myself.
The best homemade I have used is the latest on (see my sig). Last two hatches have been 100%. My wife thinks that they were 110%, she insists we set 10 eggs and got 11 chicks, but I suspect her math (and she teaches math).
I learn. I learn from my own experience, research, and by listening to others.
If I have a fault (er ... many, actually) it is that I do not suffer idiots very well. I do not comment on subjects that I have little or no knowledge of, nor do I ever state opinions as facts, I differentiate.
If I see people stating opinion as fact, I have an annoying tendency to ask them to back up their assertions .... Rob and his team don't always appreciate this, and do sometimes jump in a little too quickly (my opinion, it's their site!!).
I enjoy debate, but too many people never seemed to learn that skill, and take every counterpoint as a personal insult, which can be wearing.
If ever you disagree with me, please feel very free to say so, you will neither annoy nor upset me
So ... the point about when Day 1 starts is an interesting one. It could, I guess, seem to be a minor thing that Twigg is making a meal of. But scratch the surface and there is more to it.
In fact it is actually very important we get it right if we are to be of any useful help to others.
Hope this helps