Well, the eggs under the broodies turned out to be duds, but I think I had too many broodies fighting over them, and they either got jostled too much or always had a hen on them and got too hot! I'm trying to rig up an online webcam for the incubator hatch this weekend, and have invited a bunch of my 8 year old daughter's friends to come over and watch baby chicks hatch. :) newchick, what brand and model incubator are you using, do you know? If you don't have the instructions for it anymore, lots of places online, including the manufacturers, often post the instructions online. You need to follow the instructions as closely as you can for your brand and model. Mine is a Little Giant still air, and mine says to stop turning the eggs and leave the incubator closed for the final three days of incubation--I always make sure and top off the water wells at the final opening & turning before the last three days, so the eggs won't be in danger of drying out. Make sure you have a brooder box, a heat source, chick food and water ready to go for the babies. You've got some cool breeds there, Anconas and Marans are beautiful! Hatching chicks is an amazing experience for kids, I'm glad you are doing it! :) Velvet ~:>

Thanks everyone! I really don't think the male was just being scarce. I had been watching this pair for a week and a half before they started laying eggs. I would always see them together and I would always see both of them. If the female was in the nestbox, Dad sat outside watching. For all four eggs (being laid) Dad was there. If I went near the box I got scolded by both the male and the female. Then that one day as I was watching Mom just acted funny and that was when I realized I hadn't seen the male. Today was day five of not seeing him. I realized I could have missed him when watching but I really think if he had been around when I went down there he would of scolded me too, not just the mom. Now an update from today. I was watching and I saw a male BB! Watched them for a LONG time, lots and lots of wing waving going on by both but mostly the male. Mom would go in the nestbox, peek back out and then fly to the male who was in a tree near it, then she would go back in. She did stay in after awhile also and the male went to the nestbox at one point and peeked in. I went down during this and set some crickets out. Mom immediately went down to eat, male just watched and wing waved. When I went down there mom scolded me, the male did not. I think this is a new male but I guess I won't know for sure unless the eggs hatch and I find out if he feeds them or not, either that or if he gets her to start a new nest. What do you think?? I am going to post this question in a new thread too as I am curious what everyone thinks as to if this is a new male or not. Does wing waving happen during incubation by an established couple?? Donna

This being a fairly long thread, I'll answer a couple of points from ole joyful on behalf of the OP (but if I've gotten anything wrong, pls do correct me - I'm going on memory here, having contributed several times): >>This was term insurance/most are guaranteed renewals ... but usually at a substantially increased annual fee. >> No. This was an offer from the US Government. It is an unlimited term policy, which is unheard of from a private carrier. The premium remains the same in perpetuity, until the policyholder dies or allows the policy to lapse. >>If he could delay purchasing, until a time when people depended on him financially, he could (but - would he have?) invest the value of the premium for a few years until his need developed. >> The annual premium is a MAXIMUM of $365/yr and a minimum of $3.20/yr. I don't think there's an investment on this earth that would turn even the $365 maximum amount in a five- or ten-year period, into enough money to purchase a lifetime of premiums for a $400,000 30-yr Level Term policy on a male who is ratable for occupation and may by that time be ratable medically as well. Being ratable for occupation normally means a premium penalty from 40-150% in annual cost. The federal government is offering to insure this young man for: - The same premium a highly-rated A+ private carrier would charge to a healthy, non-smoking, "low-risk occupation" for $400K face amount - But instead of a 30-yr Level Term that would go up dramatically at age 54**, this policy remains in force and the premium remains the same, forever. ** For those that are not conversant with Level Term, the premium remains the same for the set number of years, but after that jumps so high (because you are now 10, 20, or 30 yrs older) that everybody drops the policy. So you want to have the term policy last until you have no need for it any longer. How high does it go? Well, after the Level Term period expires, it becomes an Annual Renewable Term policy, which is what ole joyful is referring to. For example, on a $250K policy I purchased on a 15-yr Level Term, I was rated standard for health, no rating for occupation. My premium is currently $600/yr. At the end of the 15 yr term, the annual premium jumps to $4,525, the year after that $4,912, then $5,360, etc. etc. Therefore, I will allow the policy to lapse at the end of the Level Term period.

caflowerluver: I did not take offence. I merely wanted to mention that most of us today contain a large mix of genes. As far as "fooling around", I have a few in my closet in a joking manner. I have ancestors of whom I can not find a trace of a marriage record, mention in a journal, or any other indication. This doesn't prove they were not married; It only says there are no records to be found. Some of my ancestors were "on the frontier" and official accommodations were scarce. I probably have some common law ancestors as well. Some of my 200 yr old records are not readable and others have been lost in court house disasters. A number of court house records were lost during the Civil War. If a minister of the gospel performs a marriage ceremony, the couple is not "officially" married in the eyes of the law until the marriage papers have been filed at the court house. During pioneer days, the Minister might not get to the court house for 2 weeks to a month after the marriage. I have 2 mariage dates for my grandparents: one is the day of the wedding and the other is the filing date at the court house. if something happened to the Minister before he filed, the record could be lost. Relationships can get messy. I have a great grand uncle who lost his first wife and 2 children. He married again and they had several children and then she died while the last child was very young. Her sister stepped in, married the man, and they had children. In the same community, another man and wife had 4 children of their own and took in 12 orphans at various times. He adopted all the orphans so they took on his surname. That's got to be a mess in the gene pool to straighten out. Another mess: My gggrand father, after his wife died, married the sister of a brother who married his daughter. Oh my!