I love technology ! I know it's not a really big deal and on the scale of technological advancement it's possibly lower than the invention of the wheel (uhhhhh, is that technology ??) but currently our little incubator is whirring away in the corner of the kitchen and 24 big brown eggs are hopefully turning into 24 cute little fluffy chicks. Previously we have had to use other techniques to retire geriatric hens and introduce young and hopefully healthy virile egg layers. We bought them online and boxes of cheeping chicks arrived at the post office all the way from Albuquerque NM. We tried Gods way and left eggs under a broody chicken, unfortunately of all the broody hens in the hen house we chose the one lest inclined to be a dedicated mom. Potential Mom took a vacation..several times a day and whilst out carousing her nest was stolen by an overlooked and at that moment in time, much more maternally inclined wanna be mom..who also bored of the seemingly never ending sit. I almost had a nervous breakdown watching those eggs in the nest, abandoned for hours, imagining tiny chicks inside shivering whilst all their moms cackled and squalked in the hen house. Gods way clearly didn't work with our less than dedicated hens. We tried a manual incubator, and I had sleepless nights wondering if we had turned the eggs, sometimes they got over turned when Greg and I got over enthusiastic and we both did the turning. We marked the eggs M and N ( morning and night...simple eh !) and thought it was good... but results were dismal and now we have a mechanised incubator. It does it all, it's great, we just check it has water and leave it to do its thing, we are a week in and 2 weeks to go. Watch this space, with a bit of luck our divine intervention will result in an incubator full of cheepy chicks. Young Jodie is doing a great job in the garden....I just love watching her happily slaving over the raspberry patch......'cause that means I don't have to !! She manages to smile her way through any job we have asked her to do...I wonder if we could clone her ? Oh dear, time to go, it's 7.22 and time to get down to the barn. Take care, M
1 Comment
mum says
1/24/2011 01:18:11 am
woo hoo no rain, every 1 busy at the barn and i am fine what more can you ask for.dear old monday and laundry day, so better get busy, have learned 2 hate that machine, lol loves 2 all and take care of those eggs. mum j
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AuthorIts me, Maureen, (the Boss) Archives
March 2018
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