Day 20

Chicks went into lockdown yesterday. I was a little confused, because it seems like many people put their eggs in lockdown on day 18. But my Brinsea doesn't stop turning until the beginning of day 19. And when you actually count day 21 as a day, that would make for a three day lockdown. So, I went with manufacturer instructions and didn't bump up the humidity until it quit turning. The instructions also say to take out the turning plate, and suggest kitchen fabric or something else for the bottom of the tray.

Brinsea with my hatching felt floor

I used some leftover felt to make a soft cover for the bottom. I thought the hard plastic would be hard for them to get their footing. I wanted to use white or dark green, but the only colors I had in the right quantities were yellow and red. I've heard red can be upsetting to chickens (looks like blood), so I went with yellow. I have to admit it makes it look like it was designed for the Brinsea.

I've been trying not to fret.  I feel much more optimistic this time around. I even bought a 25 lb bag of chick starter crumbles (medicated, because that's all they had in the 25 lb size) yesterday.

Today I started panicking again because I couldn't see any rocking, and there are no pips just yet. I decided that I would take egg #3 out of the incubator and go candle it. Yes, I realize this completely goes against the rules of lockdown. I couldn't help it.

So, I took it out (after sanitizing my hands) and started to carry it to the dark place in the house. I realize pretty quickly that I can hear it CHIRPING!!! Well. That beats the heck out of candling to know if it's alive or not. I let my four year old hear it chirp (I had to chirp to it so it would chirp back), and then stuck it back in the incubator.

I swear I won't open it again til a chick is hatched (and probably not even then if there's another pip). I hope they all hatch easily on their own.