TeacherChickadee
In the Brooder
- Apr 9, 2020
- 1
- 10
- 18
I’m a teacher who had plans to hatch chicks in the classroom, but am doing it at home due to closed schools. I hatched a small batch of 4 in March and just hatched another this week. The incubator I have used with this latest hatch has uneven temps with spots of lower and higher temps. In addition, the thermostat doesn’t work and the digital thermometer seems to read high. I think the worst issue is the temp fluctuations. I started with just 7 eggs and one must not have been fertile. 6 grew to full term. One died without hatching, One hatched on day 21, three on day 22 and one on day 23. The last two struggled quite a bit, and the last one seemed to not be ready to hatch, but its internal clock said to hatch. The advice I read here about incubators, temperature, and umbilical cords helped me tremendously. In my first batch of eggs, one turned out to be a duckling! So I have a precious 3week old duckling keeping me company during this crazy time. It has been a fun blessing and distraction to have these birds around at this time. Here’s my surprise duckling, named DuckyLucky.