the accidental smallholder :: diary archives

Don't count your chickens...

You'll remember a couple of weeks ago we put eight eggs in our new Brinsea incubator; shortly after that we had a fuse trip, turning the incubator off for a short while. We decided to leave the eggs and see what happened.

Last night, we decided we should really candle them - I suppose I was working on ignorance being bliss, but if any were likely to hatch on Wednesday, I really had to think about building some sort of brooder. So we found the candling lamp, and five out of the eight seem to be full of feathery chicks.

This morning, when I woke, I lay in bed metally building a brooder. Then Dan noticed the alarm hadn't gone off - the power had tripped again. The incubator had cooled but wasn't anywhere near cold (at least not by our standards). I could have wept. Indeed I did - and swore a bit too.

Anyway, we turned it back on, told the chicks to that Mum had gone for a BIG feed but was back now so to hang on in there and are now hoping like mad that all will be well on Wednesday. Honestly, expecting a baby wasn't as bad as this.

We're investigating UPS systems and a good electrician!

I'll keep you posted.