Hatching chickens

Today we are the proud parents of 14 new baby chickens. Some 23 days ago we placed 8 duck and 34 chicken eggs into the incubator. Ducks take a longer period of time to incubate than hen eggs which can be a problem unless you've more than 1 incubator or 2 ovens that you can temperature control or a broody bird that's about to hatch or something. We're lucky at the moment - we've got all 3.

Anyway - just about everything that could go wrong with a hatch did with this one. First up a duck egg went 'off'. We were very lucky that it didn't explode but the smell was not at all pleasant and the incubator still has a faint odour. Thankfully we candle our eggs regularly and were able to pull it out before the whole hatch was contaminated.

The next problem was extreme heat. Our incubators are kept in the ensuite of the main bedroom to assist with climate control and stop any excess vibration that may come from a timber floor. The ensuite, facing directly north, gets very warm during the day at the best of times but with outside temperatures ranging from 35 to 41 degrees it becomes unbearable and not at all good for the eggs unless the door was left open. Well, someone of course kept closing the door and the eggs got to a temperature of 40 degrees on at least 4 occasions.

On the first day of February the outside temperature in the shade here reached 41 degrees. No problem, the door was left open. Then a tree fell onto a power line in Nabiac and we had a blackout! There was absolutely nothing we could do for the eggs that day as I was in hospital for some minor surgery and the family were visiting me. Apparently we were blacked out for around 4 or 5 hours.

Upon my return from hospital we again candled the eggs, removing 3 duck eggs that really didn't smell too good in addition to 12 hen eggs that were either clear or didn't look right. Then we waited, candling and removing clears and odds as we went along. The eggs got to day 19 (which is when our nearly always hatch) and nothing. Day 20 - nothing. Day 21 and I committed the cardinal sin of opening the incubator and having a look at and listened to the eggs. We made the decision that the hatch was a failure and we'd compost the eggs the following day but left the incubator turned on just in case.

Thank goodness we waited. We didn't get a full hatch but the 14 that have arrived all look healthy and are chirping their heads off. We're about to pop them into the brooder box and count what's left of the eggs so that we know just what breed or mixtures we've got.

There is something so magical about hatching chickens. The babies can bring a smile to just about any grumble bums face. When they survive the odds like these kids have they're even more special.

Oh, the duck eggs are due on Saturday at the earliest. They're our first attempt so fingers crossed.

My first entry

Well, I'm sitting here at home recovering from a nasty (still suspected) case of food poisoning. I feel a bit wobbly on the old pins so sitting down and typing is a nice and hopefully productive way of putting in my time.

This first entry will be brief, basically just an experiment while I find my feet in this new 'blogging' venture. My next entries may be about the trip I had with my family last week to Fraser Island. Then again, maybe it will be some of my efforts at writing articles and humorous stories. Who knows, it's yet another journey and I hope you'll enjoy the ride.

Cheers
C.