The number of eggs hatching in our incubator has steadily increased. Last night when we went to bed, there were 6. This morning there were 8. There are three eggs still to hatch though it is unlikely that one in particular will see any activity as it was damaged shortly after it went into the incubator three weeks ago. We will leave the unhatched eggs in the incubator until Wednesday.
We went back to the books and instructions last night and realised why we were so wrong to expect the eggs to hatch last week. We had got the eggs three weeks ago yesterday and our supplier had said they were laid mid the previous week. What we didn't realise was that they has been in store up to when we bought them rather than in an incubator. The 21days to hatch has to be measured from the start of the incubation. This is a learning curve for us.
On that same learning curve is putting the chicks into the brooder. This consists of a large, old fishtank that we have not used for years and a new chick heater which acts as a surrogate mother hen. Watch this space - I'll let you know how we get on.
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