I've just candled the eggs...

[TheDuchessOfNorksBride]

on Day 14. And of the 12, 10 are looking good and 2 I'm not sure about. They're not completely clear and there are no blood rings but there's not much dark stuff either.

Anyway, I've left the 2 questionable eggs in but put them at one end of the incy so I'll know whether they hatch or whether I was right to be dubious. I'm not going to bother with Day 18 candling, seems like overkill.

It's much more technical than just letting the hens get on with it isn't it? But rather enjoyable too!

So, chicks due in 7 days. Baby due in 11.

How exciting! Dare I ask which you're more excited about?

It's very exciting candling eggs I think...
but tbh I'd rather have the baby
Good Luck with all your hatches DONB x

I think I am more excited about the chicks. I've had 3 babies before but I've never hatched chicks in an incy. The incy has novelty value! arf!

chicks are soooo adorable (but only for a week or two)

I can just imagine your mw coming round to do a visit;
'how's everything going? how's little one?'
'come and see my chicks'
'yes, but how is the feeding going? Any problems?'
'well, one of the little ones didn't seem very keen on the chick crumbs, but they've perked up now...'
' plenty of pees and poos?'
'don't you know chickens don't wee separately????'
'well I can see YOU're not going to have any problems...'

Seriously, hope it's really exciting, and that the baby is really exciting too!!!!!!

OOH, a chick antenatal thread! Can I join you? I'm on day 15 (they went in on 1st May)

Oh good duchesse, we can compare hatchings as they're due at the same time.

t/shell - my MW is an ex-chicken keeper and she will also be more interested in the chicks. Goodness, I really do live in Cold Comfort Farm territory don't I?!

oh she must be a good one then!

Incidentally, some of eggs I am incubating I am doing for a friend whose baby is due on the 31st- she didn't fancy her chances as a fairly new chicken keeper of being able to rear both chicks and baby successfully.

And our local midwife is obsessed with quails. When she came to book me in on my last and doomed pregnancy, a couple of hours after I'd been released from hospital after a bleed, was in tremendous pain and unable to concentrate because of it, all she could do was attempt to rehome her flipping quail with me.

What an utterly crap midwife.

Sensible on your friends part in case she has to stay in hospital for any length of time. DH will manage our chicks if I'm not able to do anything post-birth (which would be a first as I tend to drop babies out with relative ease). The chicks will stay in the same spare bedroom that the incubator is in for a week or so making it easy to keep an eye on them. The pen is all set up, we just need to turn the electric hen on at the first sign of pipping.

Just what I thought at the time. I was almost glad she wasn't going to be my midwife after all when I lost the baby at 13 weeks (never heard from her again btw- don't know if it standard practice to drop miscarriers like poisoned hot potatoes...)

Day 19 in the incy. I've upped the humidity and ceased turning. Now I just have to wait... (and I'm bloody impatient)!

duchesse - I m/c at 6 weeks last year. I telephoned the midwife unit, who gave excellent advice and said to contact GP if pain was too much. I didn't actually have any pain at all so I didn't see anyone and nobody contacted me. I'm surprised that there was no follow up for you though, 13 weeks is more serious.

Any sign of pipping yet?

The last day is the hardest to wait.

Although I did have one hatch on day 20, came home from hospital after DS 4's op to find a fluffy chick in the incy.

I found it really hard to resisit the urge to take the lid off.

Day 20: I have just been up for a look and there is nothing happening. . Definitely no tapping, pipping or cheeping and none of the eggs are moving.

They are Sussex eggs though which are larger than average so maybe Day 22/23?...

Update: 3 eggs now have tiny holes and one is cheeping at me.

Hooray!! Hope you wake up to an incy full of chicks.

One hole is big enough to see a bit of fluff through! DCs very excited. A 4th egg has a tiny chip in it and another is wobbling.

Bugger the football v Child of our Time problem - I'll be checking the incy every 5 minutes!

First chick is out. One of those speedy arrivals, I'm sure it wasn't one of the pipped eggs when I went up earlier but it's completely hatched out and stumbling about and cheeping happily (but looks a bit groggy and needs a nice long snooze).

The other pipped eggs haven't moved on (but they probably will now they're being kicked about by the mini-teradactyl).

It's fab to watch (without mother hen taking your eyes out).

How many more today or has all this hatching activity set you off too?

Yay!

Very exciting stuff!

Chick no. 2 arrived in the night and another between the children looking at 7am and leaving for school at 8.30am. Another is on the verge of hatching now. One egg has a hole with a beak poking out. Two eggs are rocking.

And it's only the morning of Day 21 so the other 4 or 5 eggs still have plenty of time.

I've switched the electric hen on, the first two chicks are dry, fluffy, beady-eyed and leaping about so as soon as the 'hen' is warm enough, I'll move them.

And my car has just passed it's MOT without requiring any work. Happy days!

Mine are pipping!! Had to chuck one dangerously oozy one out about three days ago, and have doubts about another, but looking good so far...

Hurrah for pipping duchesse!

We have 4 chicks so far. 2 black and 2 orangey-yellow. Another preparing to hatch (black again).

Yet another egg is in trouble, seems to be stuck to shell, but it has it's beak out so at least it's breathing. Hopefully blood vessels will dry up and it'll pop out.