Despite the chilly temperatures that appeared out of nowhere, the chickens have determined it is time to lay eggs, and indeed they have been. All this Egg-citement has caused incubators to be pulled out of the closet and cleaned in anticipation of many new chicks being added this spring. I also spent some time cleaning out the brooders and making sure we have a place to put them once they arrive. Safely tucked out of the way in the front bedroom, are the two incubators with a small brooder in between. The brooder will make a great place for the eggs to hatch and chicks to dry before being moved to the bigger brooder and will allow me to quickly start new batches of eggs.
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| Middle: brooder without heated top installed at the moment |
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Now that the first incubator is full, the heat is on and we have 21 days of patiently waiting to see what will arrive. There should be chicks for everyone in the family to enjoy as there are eggs from different varieties of Cochins- Blue, black, splash, and gold laced. We also have eggs from our light Brahma and Silver laced wyandotte.
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| Grow babies, Grow! |
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DeeAnn, Do you incubate with the eggs in the styrofoam boxes? Why? To keep them from rattling? Does it test out well? I have the world's sweetest cochin banty, a partridge, and she is now w/ matching guy. I'd like to hatch all her eggs and want it to be very successful. She will probably go broody again before the incubator completes the job so she will get her chicks back. Nice blog. janeg@methownet.com Winthrop, WA
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