The Incubation Eggsperiment.

     I know, it's been entirely too long since I've told you a story.  I could give you plenty of excuses, but that's all they'd be.  Since my last story lots has happened...Hon took me to see Kid Rock in concert (woo~hoo), Eldest drove on the highway for the first time (a real white knuckling event), and spring has begun it's sprung.  But, what this story is about has nothing to do with any of that.  Kid and I are on a journey...one that will hopefully bring us the joys of chick-hood...we are incubating eggs.
     You see, years ago Hon bought me an incubator.  It was one of those foam-type ones.  We had one semi-successful hatch from it.  Then after that, no matter what I did with it, no matter what room I put it in, it gave us squat.  That incubator was cleaned and disinfected every time.  It was even given pep talks about what it should be producing.  Even with all that, it gave us weeks of waiting for what ended up being rotten stinky eggs.  I finally gave it a name... the death-a-bator.
     Lots of my poultry friends knew about the death-a-bator.  It looked like any other foam incubator, but looks were deceiving.  No matter where I put it - family room, dining room, cellar - the end result was never good.  About three years ago I started dropping hints that a new incubator would be a nice Christmas gift.  Then I'd hint at it being a good birthday gift.  After that I'd move into hinting about it being a good Mother's Day gift.  I even put a wishlist on the refrigerator and at the #1 spot was a new incubator.  After years of wanting...I decided it was time to start whining.  I don't particularly like whiners, and don't like being one, but I figured I was at that point.
     You see, last year after one last ditch effort with the death-a-bator, which resulted in a load of stinky eggs, no chicks, and a bit of a temper on my part - I picked it up and chucked it out the cellar door.  Kicked that sucker all the way to the garage, picked it's parts up, and dumped them in the garbage can.  That was the end of the death-a-bator.  Gosh, that felt good!  Problem was, I still didn't have a replacement, so it was time to commence phase whine.  I got quite good at it.  Even so, Christmas came and went with no incubator.
     In February I started conveniently leaving the internet on.  It was on a particular webpage for a company called Brinsea.  They sell incubators.  Then I mentioned to Hon if he bought one through a particular poultry website (Fresh Eggs Daily), he would even get a bit of a discount.  Cha-Ching!  Low and behold, he finally did it.  I knew he did before he told me (because I saw the confirmation email), but that's neither here nor there at this point.  On my birthday he told me that he had ordered it and it would be coming soon.  I wanted to camp out at the mailbox, but decided against it figuring they've seen enough of me in my nightgown and chicken rain boots, among other odd happenings.
     Yesterday Kid and I set our first bunch of eggs in it.  We're doing a "togetherness" hatch.  He's hatching out some of his Mille Fleur d'Uccle bantam eggs as part of his 4-H project for this year.  I'm hatching out some Java eggs from our friends at The River Walk Farm in Arizona.  So far, this Brinsea incubator is doing a primo job at holding a good temperature and humidity level.  That means on April 18...it takes 21 days for poultry eggs to hatch...we cross our fingers knock on all available wood...chicks will hatch.  It's exciting just thinking about it - and we still have 20 days to go.
     So, there you have it, folks.  A new incubator.  The prospect of actual eggs hatching out.  I think Hon's having nightmares of being overrun by chicks, turkey poults, and goslings...but he'll get over it.  I have yeeeears of incubating to catch up with.  This may just put another project on his list of things to do...  Smiling & Waving, Sharon 

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