As told from the perspective of new chick number 3....
Hello Auntie and chicken loving peeps!
When the first eggs were set to hatch, Mamma D. was very excited. She had never had eggs hatch before, and tried to do everything perfect. The problem was that everyone has success doing things differently, so it was difficult to decide what was right. Temperatures too high can cause problems. Temperatures too low can cause problems. The same went for humidity settings. Some people say you shouldn't handle the eggs except to candle after 10 days and again at 18 days when they are no longer turned.
So Mamma D set the temperature for 100.1 and the humidity at 38%. She candled every other day, mostly because it was her first time hatching eggs, and she was intrigued by the progress. On day 18, the humidity was raised to 70. For some reason, at the last minute, Dos and Cuatro were no longer alive.
The whole time the humidity was set high for the first 4, the other 4 were in the incubator. So, one rule was already broken- don't let the humidity get too high. We sweated it out. It didn't hurt us!
But then when Dos and Cuatro went to live with daddy, Mamma D. wanted all 4 of us new ones to survive. Me and new egg number 2 had funny air sacs, Like Dos and Cuatro. Two days before we were moved off our turning thing new egg number 2 stopped moving. So Mamma D was especially worried about me.
When She came home from work, Mamma D was excited to see 2 eggs pipped. She pipped new egg number 2, just in case he was still alive. She held me up to the bright light. She couldn't hear me peeping, but saw me moving. So she put me back on the floor, and waited.
Four hours later, after peering in like a million times, Mamma D. broke another rule, and opened the bator. She moved the shell off the 2 pips, and then took me out and held me up to the light. I totally peeped my dislike of the light. Next thing I know, I hear a crash, and see light coming in my egg. Mamma D. Had made a little hole for me. The problem was, it wasn't near my head. The egg broke a bigger piece than Mamma D wanted, and the membrane was covering my butt. There was still veins, too, so Mamma. D was worried.
To keep her from worrying, I peeped and screeched as loud as I could, over and over and over. I wiggled my butt too.
Mamma D. broke alot of rules that night- she picked up all the eggs and listened. And helped us get some fresh air. But if she didn't poke a hole in my egg, I probably wouldnt have survived.
At 1:30am, Mamma D was finally satisfied with the humidity, and she went to bed. I cotinued to peep very loudly so she knew I was alright. The other 2 joined in the peeping. Laurel and Hardy were sleeping through it all. Mamma D. woke up an hour later, and it was kinda funny. She was barely awake, and peeked in, and almost didn't notice that new egg number 1 was now new chick number 1. I was still peepin and wigglin my butt.
Somewhere around 5, The man came home, and he saw all of us. When he went to bed, Mamma D sorta woke, and asked him if there were babies. He said there were 3, so she dragged her butt out of bed and came and peeked in the window. Sheesh, she looked scary. I hopw she looks better after having coffee.
So we hung out, nice and cozy and warm. And alive. Wonder what happens next?
Love,
The eggie that almost didnt make it
