Messieurs, dames. Faites vos jeux!

Day 20. One incubator, eight live eggs. Which will hatch first?

Still in the running of the original twelve are numbers 2,4,5,6,7,8,9&12. The only form guide we can offer is the photo from the first candling:

First candling photo. 1,3,10&11 were listed 'DNS'.

As of now, none of the eggs have pipped, but we have seen some 'twitching' from 4,5 and 7. Meanwhile, the guinea pigs' indoor cage is being converted to a brooder with the addition of a heat lamp.

Updates as they happen...

Ladies and gentlemen...

....please fasten your seatbelts, as we are now approaching hatching.

It's day 19, the incubator temperature is down to 98, the humidity is up to 70 (not quite 70, but we've had problems with this from the off in the dry East Anglian climate) and the auto turner tray is out. We still have eight live eggs and so have been frantically running around today in search of fire-glow bulbs (the poor man's infra-red) and chick crumb in preparation for the new arrivals.

We'll keep you posted.

Candling 2

We candled again last night and all eight fertile eggs still appear to be live, though it took a fair amount of clucking on our part to make some of them move. No photos, unfortunately, as they are now so big that they block out most of the light from our small torch, leaving nothing for the camera to see.

Day 14: the pre-hatching experience

As medical science advances and scientists compete to produce ever-more extravagant claims, it has become popular to ascribe the life path of an individual to an increasingly short period at the beginning of his or her life. In the last week I have read one claim that the first thousand days after conception irrevocably define a person's character and prospects and another that these matters are decided even before a child draws its first breath. The number of 'whale music' CDs and books urging parents to sing and talk to their unborn offspring certainly suggests that these beliefs are not confined to the scientific community.

The Postman: agent of specist imperialism?

But does what goes for humans go for chickens? Certainly, we want our impending chicks to grow into well-balanced and productive members of avian society, but what is the best way to achieve this end? Looking to the human experience, it seems that music is the most popular approach. But what music? Is Mozart or Metallica the route to happy chickens?

And then there is the thorny issue of cultural identity. These eggs where laid in Scotland, but are of French stock. So should it be out with the fiddle for a few reels and Strathspeys, or to the accordion for some cafe waltzes from the Rive Gauche? As future citizens of Norfolk, perhaps they should be encouraged to assimilate with a few old favourites from the Singing Postman.

Ultimately though, we have to face the frightening possibility that playing any human music to chicken eggs may be an unforgivable act of specist imperialism. So many issues, so little time...

Time for another Chicken Dance, I think.

Candling 3

Here is my third set of photos

Egg 9 fertile

Egg 10 infertile

Egg 11 infertile

Egg 12 fertile

8 Eggs fertile, 4 infertile. Not a bad result

Candling 2

Here is my second set of  photos.

Egg 4 fertile

Egg 5 fertile

Egg 6 fertile

Egg 7 fertile

Egg 8 fertile

Candling.

Last Night I candled the eggs.  I made a candler using a torch, a glass jar, some tin foil and some black tape.
I lined the glass jar with tin foil stuck black tape along the edges of the jar to hide any light overspills, put the torch in and placed the egg on top.

Egg 1 infertile

Egg 2 fertile

Egg 3 infertile

Interlude

Candling results and photos tomorrow.

Day 7: excitement mounts

Excitement mounts as we approach day 8 and the prospect of being able to candle the eggs for the first time. This should mean that we will be able to determine to some extent which of the eggs are alive and developing normally. As the saying goes "don't count your chickens before they hatch", but we hope to get at least a rough idea of how things are going so far. Technology allowing, it should also mean that we will have some new photos to post.

Candling guide

I can't pretend to be an expert at interpreting the silhouettes created by candling an egg. Fortunately,.the incubator handbook provides a visual guide. Click on the image above to see it full size.

Disaster averted

Disaster narrowly avoided yesterday: All appeared normal in the incubator, but concern began to mount when it seemed that the eggs had not moved in some time. An early evening check of the turning mechanism revealed that the crank which pushes the tray back and forward across the incubator was stuck "top dead centre". Thankfully a gentle nudge of the roller tray had the eggs once again sauntering across the machine.

Once we were sure that everything was back to normal, a debriefing session was held and some consideration given to turning the eggs manually. There were concerns that this would mean getting up every two hours in the night to turn the eggs, but it appears that the normal procedure is to turn them once after every meal (breakfast dinner, tea), then once more before going to bed. For now, though it was decided to continue with automatic turning, but to keep a close eye on the mechanism to make sure all is working as it should be.

Hopefully the eggs will be none the worse for their slightly longer than usual inactivity.

Eggs on the move

The eggs going for their two-hourly roll across the incubator.

It doesn't get much more exciting* than this...






As it turns out, the eggs actually move every two hours and ten minutes - about the same length of time as the latest Harry Potter movie. I know which I would rather be watching. But since I refuse to pay ludicrous cinema popcorn prices the eggs will have to do for now. I wonder if Spielberg would be interested in the rights. Or perhaps it's more Richard Curtis territory.

Mind, having seen how popular a web cam of piece of ripening cheese became, perhaps 'incubator cam' is the way forward.

* Apologies for lack of egg pun.

Ben's eggs 2

I put the eggs into the incubator at 7pm yesterday and now I can start counting the days until they hatch. At 7 days I need to candle the eggs to check if they are fertile, at 19 days I need to turn the temparature down a tiny bit and put the humidity up a lot, and after 21 days the eggs should hatch.

The eggs in the incubator.

Now properly arranged.

Ready to go.

Bens eggs

Welcome to my blog. A friend has just given me some very rare french Bresse Gauloise eggs and I am beginning to incubate them.

This is the incubator set up in the kitchen with the eggs in a box ready to go in.

This is the incubator all set up.

Perfect temperature.

Humidity: bang on.

The eggs waiting in their polystyrene travel containers.

All ready to go but the eggs must rest for another 12 hours before they go in.