By two days before actual hatch day, eighteen of the thirty Rosetta eggs had hatched. The first two were on New Year’s Eve.
Sadly, one little one was deformed, far beyond spraddle leg or curled toes, and didn’t make it. But all of the rest seem very healthy. They took to the heat plates, water, and food in the larger of two brooders in no time flat.
The use of shelf liner in the incubator and in the brooder for a few days seems to fend off spraddle leg. The tea box lampshade keeps the nightlight bulb from disturbing the older birds in the top level of the hutch. Fancy, huh?
Speaking of shelf liner, it’s a good thing I lined the tray in the Janoel 24 incubator with it, as it has been the only thing keeping the chicks from falling through the notches at the ends and drowning. This has been nerve-wracking. I love most things about this incubator, but some handles and a more complete hatching tray would be nice. The tray should cover the entire space, and not be widely notched. Still, I’ll probably use this incubator more than the Janoel 12, as this one doesn’t have to be opened to add water or view the eggs.
For all of this craziness to happen, I ordered a dozen hatching eggs on Amazon, and two dozen Rosetta hatching eggs from Myshire Farm. The hatch rate for the mixed-color eggs was low, the first time, and with these replacements, still looks like it will be low. Today is hatch day, and only one of these has hatched. All but one of the healthy chicks are the Rosetta’s from Myshire Farm. I cannot recommend them enough.
One of the Rosetta chicks was an assist. My daughter and I had to help it out of its shell. I hate doing this, as there is generally a reason for a chick not hatching. But it was piping so miserably, and it had made such progress. It didn’t look promising when it hatched. But within only minutes, it stopped rolling around, sat up, and lifted its head. Awesome! It had wickedly curled toes from being in the shell for so long, but today, even those look better. I may have to make it some shoes and I may not. In this photo, it’s the one barely showing from behind the drinker. It’s toolin’ around with the rest of them, and keeping up just fine.
Yep, that’s a dirty brooder. If you raise quail, this is what you will be seeing, much of the time. I cleaned this brooder late last evening, and by the morning, well…
Some of the chicks are already peeking at the tops of the heat plates and considering climbing up there. They really are strong and healthy. If half are hens, this ought to be a great year for eggs.
I moved the chick out of the incubator and into the brooder as I typed this. And another egg has pipped.
