Three Is Better Than None, I Guess...

Well, boo to both the old AND the new incubators, we only got a measly three chicks to hatch.  What we got is cute, though!

Here they are all together:

Actually the fault most likely lies in something we are doing wrong...now I just have to find out WHAT.

NOW HATCHING! Chickam2008 Is A Go!

Yeah, baby! This time we have success! One egg, #9 (I numbered
them this time) is already peeping madly and has pipped, 6 hours ahead
of the estimated time of 8PM (PST).

After the last crushing disappointment, we didn't want the same thing
to happen again. So we waited until one of the little buggers
actually started to HATCH before starting this thread. Y'all are
guaranteed at least one cute fuzzy chick. :)

We ran the new incubator and old side-by-side once we got a new
thermometer for the old one.


The 42 numbered eggs for Chickam are in the new
incubator, and 18 non-numbered test eggs are in the old
incubator, just for us so we can see if it works.

We'll keep the cam on the pipping #9 egg for now, and we'll move it
around as needed once more pipping and hatching begins. Once the
hatch is done, we'll move the cam to the brooder box, so you
can enjoy the frenzied running about that IS baby chicks in action:
Hilarity in the form of little fuzzballs. As a bonus, we'll toss 'em
some live mealworms or crickets from time to time, so you can place
your bets for Chicken Football (fun for you, not so much so for the
bug; but oh, well).

We've changed Chickam2008 to the Yahoo site, the new URL is below.
http://live.yahoo.com/chickam2008

Unfortunately, the pip on #9 is facing AWAY from the camera, and we
cannot open the incubator to move the egg (it's a non-no during the
beginning of the hatch), so you'll have to trust us on this. Also,
sorry--no sound, we tested it and the ambient room noise (and cawing
from Nadine the crow and peeping from Jake the sparrow) overpowers any
peeps from the incubators. But once we place the cam in the brooder
box with the dry chicks, we'll try it then.


So place your bets, there are 42 eggs total in the Chickam
incubator! Or, if you like to root for the underdog, go for the eggs
in the old incubator. And remember--the first egg to pip isn't
always the first one to hatch! :)

Countdown...

...to chicks, hopefully.

Today is the day we stopped turning the eggs, increased the humidity & ventilation in the incubators, and start hoping for the best.

We candled the eggs with the lighter color shells (those dark brown and green ones were impossible to see through)--some were clear, with no chicks, others had chicks formed inside. It was difficult to tell if the chicks were alive or not, or HOW fully formed they were. The cam is ready and waiting.

Saturday night/Sunday morning will tell!

Yay!

J. is home from his business trip to Chicago and with my family back under one roof, all is again right with the world.

Let's Try This Again...

OK, now it's Incubator Wars!

New one on the left, old one on the right:

The chart on the wall is so we can mark the three-times-daily egg turning routine. The new incubator has 42 eggs in it, the old one 18--plus a new thermometer. We're running old and new side by side in order to test the old one. If all goes well, all of the eggs will hatch simultaneously.

All loaded up!

The eggs in the new incubator on the left are numbered, so when Chickam fires up, people can place their bets on which egg pips hatches first. :) It kills me how in the 6 years or so since we bought the first incubator, the only thing that is different with the new one is a different style thermometer.

Twenty-one days from now, on May 24th, there had better be cute fuzzy peeps running around this house!