My husband is a pool player. For two blessed nights a week I am left alone to my own devices. No cooking, no cleaning, no laundry, no voices. It's all about me and my laptop. These are the nights that I relax and regroup. On one particularly quiet night I began to ponder my chickens.
We've always had hens. No more than half a dozen spoiled little girls. In return for their luxury pen and gourmet laying pellets and oh so yummy-fresh treats from the garden, they would each pay homage to our family with one beautiful fresh egg a day. The kids would argue over who would collect this bounty, pushing and shoving each other all the way to the pen. Most days each of the six would come in carrying a single egg, but on the rare occasion that we only got five, one would come back in a pout.
All the kids are grown now. All but one have moved away and he is 16. He hardly cares for the chickens anymore. My nest is almost empty. One day I hope to have grand-children, but until then I decided that hatching some chicks would supplement my need to cluck over some babies.
I began searching the web for incubators. The first link that popped up was to a site called Backyard Chickens dot com. I had landed right smack in the middle of Miss Prissy's "Chic Chick Bator" thread. Well I never! You mean you can
make an incubator? I was intrigued. I quickly bookmarked that thread and set off exploring this huge site dedicated to the keeping of chickens. I watched others who were hatching their chicks in homemade and purchased incubators alike. I felt excitement for them all as they counted down the days and posted photos of their newly hatched chicks. I clicked and read and clicked and read some more.
I had an Omaha Steak Box...and an old pc fan. I began collecting things like I was McGyver until finally, I was ready to put it all together. I asked questions and people were so friendly and willing to help. My only problem was that I had no rooster, so I would have to procure some fertile eggs.
I found the Arkansas section, imagine that! There were a lot of chicken savvy people right here close to home, just mere miles away! I met a lady who helped me to get some fertile Easter Egger eggs. I brought them home and let them rest. The next day I said a little prayer over them and placed them in the styrofoam box. Twenty-one days later, 13 of the eighteen eggs that I had put into this homemade incubator had hatched into little fluffy chicks. My chicks are now 14 weeks old! Soon they'll be laying eggs for my family.
I have met some of the most wonderful people who frequent this forum. It seems to me that those who raise and care for chickens, are a good natured people. Since signing on at backyardchickens.com, my hobby of having a few hens has increased to almost an obsession. I dote on my girls and I give them everything good that I can, including their own personal livestock guard person, because now they get to free-range for a couple of hours in the evening, and they have this forum to thank for it.
Thank you Backyard Chickens dot com!
as Debi said, thank you for the compliment, but alas, we are but members! which is pretty exciting for Debi and me considering we are both whacky and slightly 'off'. 
