On Thurdsay, the 9th, the chick were due to hatch. The day came and went . . . and nothing happened. I thought perhaps I had miscounted, they hatch at the END of the 21st day . . .so I waited. Friday came and went. Nothing. I put my head to the incubator and listened for peeps or any noise and was greeted with silence.
So today, Saturday I took the eggs out of the incubator. I cracked open a few shells to see what had happened. There were partially formed chicks in 10 of the eggs. Rats!
I am struggling to figure out what went wrong. I think . . . the temperature of the incubator was too high. I'm going to see if I can-recalibrate it and start again.
I had everything ready too; box, warming lamp (with spare bulb), chick feeder, waterer and a 25 kilo bag of chick crumb.
I'll see if I can reset the temperature and start again.
Mark Cavendish: Spoty lifetime award
5 days ago
3 comments:
Oh, so sorry to hear your eggs didn't hatch -- would be most disappointing. Maybe a couple Mother hens would be better to sit on them.
I have used broody hens in the past with great success, but I don't have access to any. I have four hybrid layers who will never be broody. There are restrictions on the movement of domestic poultry in the UK just at the moment. Which means that I can't buy a broody hen. This is why I am using an incubator.
Sorry to hear the news about the chicks, I was so looking forward to seeing photos of fluffy babies!
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