The first three eggs I put in my incubator (just a refresher: they are mutt eggs from our stock) are going into lock-down tomorrow, which means that I will stop turning them so the chicks inside can position themselves and get ready for hatching...which is three days after the initial lock-down! Finally, some action! I'm quite pleased, even more so because today---after taking apart the turner, and putting it back together---I figured out that my automatic egg-turner works without all the racks in it. That means I can take some out, and leave room for the eggs in lock-down which cannot be turned, BUT the turner can keep turning the other mutt eggs, the remaining duck egg, the Marans eggs, and so forth. This is good news, because now my Mom won't have to hand-turn all the eggs while I am gone, which is bad both for the person designated to turning the eggs (it can be tricky) and for the actual eggs, because by opening the bator you release precious heat and humidity, and thus jeopardize the eggs.
So, the egg-turner has been reassembled so it is missing three racks, leaving plenty of space for the three eggs that will be going into lock-down tomorrow. Soon, I am going to be setting up a brooder with all its proper faculties, just in case a chick hatches whilst I'm at my cousin's sleepover on Friday, which is when the “green-marked” eggs are due. I've already got a baby brooder box ready, and two working brood lights; I just need to get a waterer, feeder, and some bedding, and then we'll be set!
I actually almost adopted a baby chick from the new game-hen Momma. I went out to check on them this morning, and give them more feed, and found that one of the babies (apparently a little pullet,) was being picked on! One side of her face around the eye was red, and slightly inflamed, and she was sopping wet and being completely ignored by her mother, which is unusual all the way around. Typically, game birds make fantastic mothers. So anyway, I brought the bantling inside to dry, and babied her for a good couple of hours while I did my school and read a book called Jane Eyre, which is required by my literature.
(I finished it, by the way.)
She dried off and perked up, and so then with many regrets I took the little girl back to her mother to see if the hen would take her back. She did, of course, but I kept close watch for a little while---checking on them meticulously---to make sure the little chick was getting covered during the rain, and wasn't getting picked on. So far, everything seems fine! I'm not sure what was going on earlier, but the baby has been re-accepted, and things look okay.
All other chickens are looking well, but still aren't laying worth a dang; this includes any eaten eggs, because I haven't been able to find any evidence of cracked, gnawed upon, swallowed, or otherwise devoured eggs in the past two days. There is just nothing out there.
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