Thanks you guys. I don't know why it's always the favorite, best, sweetest, etc. bird. Heavy sigh. I should have had her mated to that German New Hamp. I am just kicking myself that I didn't get that done. I'm going to slip the other ginger hen, the red hen and the odd hen in with the German New Hamp this evening.
The upside is that I have a couple (undetermined number) of Nicoletta's eggs in the incubator. I just hatched my first batch of chicks for the season but they weren't separated so I don't know who is who. Only one Aloha hatched out of this group of 20+ birds. But I have two larger hatches in the incubator (40+ eggs each) that has a couple/several more possibilities. I'm going to either sew up some bobbinette bags to put the eggs in when they go into lockdown or find some sort of plastic thing to put them in. I'll cinch up the bag and they'll have room to hatch but they will also be separated till I can get a wingband on them.
My hatch rate was pretty good, I'm not quite finished hatching so don't have the final count, but the system is working well. I'm still crazy with anxiety at hatch time so that needs a little work.
I only opened the little GQF I'm using as a hatcher once, but it was because the majority had hatched and they were piling up on one another till I couldn't take it any more. So I got a towel wet with very warm water and draped it over the bator and my hands and handed the chicks out to DD who put them in the brooder. Worked great and 3 more have hatched since so apparently it kept the humidity from dropping too much.
The upside is that I have a couple (undetermined number) of Nicoletta's eggs in the incubator. I just hatched my first batch of chicks for the season but they weren't separated so I don't know who is who. Only one Aloha hatched out of this group of 20+ birds. But I have two larger hatches in the incubator (40+ eggs each) that has a couple/several more possibilities. I'm going to either sew up some bobbinette bags to put the eggs in when they go into lockdown or find some sort of plastic thing to put them in. I'll cinch up the bag and they'll have room to hatch but they will also be separated till I can get a wingband on them.
My hatch rate was pretty good, I'm not quite finished hatching so don't have the final count, but the system is working well. I'm still crazy with anxiety at hatch time so that needs a little work.
