G and I plugged in the incubators Sunday morning to make sure they worked and were up to temp. When I checked this morning, both were over 110 degrees. They need to be around 99-100 degrees. So I spent the morning adjusting the dial trying to get the temp lower and bump up the humidity. I think we have it figured out now.
We put the eggs in around noon: chicken eggs in one with an egg rotator, duck and goose eggs in the other with no egg rotator. We'll have to do those manually. I've read it needs to be done three times a day. My class decided we'll do one rotation before school, one at lunch time, and I'll do one before I go home at the end of the day.
I made a chart on my calendar what day of development we're at, when to candle, when to quit rotating them, and when they'll hatch. An article I found suggested for waterfowl you should mist the eggs and leave them out to cool for 10min daily to mimic the mom going for a swim and settling back on the nest. The time builds up to 20min over the course of incubation. So I have those things noted too.
My kids are very excited. They all want to bring one home. I said their parents need to talk to me directly before I agree to anything like that.
We were supposed to do MN history this afternoon, but chickens were on the brain, so instead we came up with a plan for after they hatch and watched chicken development videos. One 6th grade girl has a heat lamp and a container of some sort to put them in. Other ideas were a dog kennel or a cat carrier. I think that problem is one we can solve as the hatch date gets closer.
I was about to move on to MN history, but a student wanted to know how chicken eggs got fertilized, so we found some youtube videos that showed how the egg develops inside the chicken and how a chick develops during incubation. Very cool. I learned a lot too! A worthwhile rabbit hole I'd say!
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