It’s been two weeks since I put the eggs in the incubator so I figured it was time to candle them again. I candled them on the 7th day and saw that a dozen of the thirty were duds. Well, they ALL turned out to be duds. I cracked several of them open to see what was going on inside & saw that most of them had a blood vein, and one or two had embryos starting, maybe the size of a wheat kernel. I’m not sure what happened. I did start collecting the eggs during the coldest part of the year, and some may have been near freezing when I finally got to them, and some of them were up to six days old before they went into the incubator. I had the temps pretty much set at 99 – 101 degrees and the humidity around 50% with the exception of one time about five days ago when the temp got up to 103.5. Not sure if that’s what did them in, but I don’t think so because the eggs seemed to have died before that time.
So two full weeks down the tube. I haven’t decided if I’m going to start more right away or if I should wait a few more weeks when the hens are laying more (and I won’t have to wait as long to collect enough for the incubator) and the outdoor temperatures are warming up. I guess I’ll wait as if I did start more in a few days, they would be hatching when Nettie is supposed to be kidding. I’ll have my hands full enough with her. And I can also start focusing on starting seeds; I’m already behind on them and I really, really want to get a good garden going this year.
On a brighter note, we celebrated Rhiannon’s 2nd birthday today with a small group of family and friends. The weather was still kind of nice, so I thought it would be fitting to have a BBQ lunch. Hamburgers, Italian sausage, hot dogs, baked beans, coleslaw & a cheesy potato casserole that our neighbor brought. And it wouldn’t be our little Ladybug’s birthday without……
Ladybug cookies!
Rhiannon got LOTS (too many Grandma!!) of presents.
The cookies took way too long to make, and it’s not like Rhiannon will actually remember them anyhow. But I thought they turned out nice and they tasted good. Besides, who doesn’t like sugar cookies frosted with sugar icing garnished with red sugar sprinkles? Can you say "Sugar-induced Diabetic Coma"?
The Lady Bug cookies look great and hey a Diabetic Coma dosen't last forever, does it?
ReplyDeleteTrue....and I could use the rest!
ReplyDeleteToo bad about the eggs, but it sounds like you've got your hands full anyway. The ccokies look yummy!
ReplyDeleteThe cookies look wonderful!
ReplyDeleteI have never tried an incubator but seems a hen collects her eggs over quite a period of time. I had one sitting on over a dozen once. Of course they do that until the weather is warm so maybe the too cold got to them.