Sorry I haven't checked back in, things have been hyper busy. We ended up with 12 chicks: 2 Porcelain Belgian d'Uccles, 1 Black Mottled Belgian d'Uccle, 1 Black Silkie, 1 Cuckoo Silkie, 1 Blue Giant Cochin, 2 Lemon Blue Giant Cochins, 2 Golden Laced Giant Cochins and 2 Salmon Faverolles. As for my suppliers, I got all of my eggs of ebay this year. The breeders are extremely nice, down-to-earth folks who replied with friendly emails, bent over backwards to please and in most cases put in an extra egg or two. They also wrapped the eggs extremely well and marked the boxes as to the contents. I did continue to have a low hatch rate this year, even for shipped eggs. I incubated 25 eggs in each incubator, and had 5 hatch in one incubator, 7 in the other. At least hatching eggs by mail this time tells me that it isn't my flock that's to blame. I opened the unhatched eggs, and found eggs at all stages of development, literally from just-started to full-term chicks. They seemed to be spread out equally, too--I didn't see a higher percentage of chicks at certain stages. And both incubators reflected the same results. So I really don't know WHAT is going on with the incubators. One is 10+ years old, the other 2 years old and are identical. I am following instructions religiously, temp and humidity are maintained correctly. From now one I'm not going to incubate more than a dozen or so eggs at a time and see how that goes. The incubator thing is making me crazy. Anyone else who hatches eggs in an incubator--how many eggs do you set at once? Have you ever loaded your incubator to it's maximum number? Velvet ~:>

Bulldinkie, protecting cygnets must be even more difficult than protecting goslings. Hope your precautions continue to work well. LF and RJ - thanks for your kind words of support. Yes, even though the gosling was destined for the table, I still feel a personal loss. I try not to get attached to meat animals, unless they are marked as future breeders, but still you can't care for something as cute and friendly and alert as goslings and not feel something for them. And then there is the feeling that I let them down by not protecting them better. The geese stayed closer to home today and my son says that Willow, our Pilgrim mom, seemed a bit subdued. Come to think of it, she kept coming and standing close to me whenever I was in the goose yard and talked to me in a different sort of way. She even let me stroke her neck, something she has not done since the goslings hatched. We are taking steps to make things safer for the geese, clearing brush, blocking their access to the bush and spending more time outside in their vicinity so that the predators will be more cautious. I have no plans to pen the geese. If a predator comes calling, a pen would only make them more vulnerable. Another couple of weeks and they will be as big as their mommas and past the most vulnerable time. Sounds like your fighting goslings are doing better together. Did you settle on a plan for their house yet? Genny, thanks for your good wishes. I know you've been through some rough times with your ducks lately. It is always hard to lose a sweet animal, whatever the cause. Glad you are enjoying your Canada gosling. Rain is a pretty name for her.

One of my broodies last hatches needed help. I think it was due to the heat that the shells were dried out and some of the chicks had a problem getting out. Once they pipped I very carefully pulled small pieces of shell away from their heads so they could get their heads out of the shell. You need to be careful and stop when you see blood. Check the eggs often and help them pull back some of the inside membrane if it is dried out. I would leave them with the broodies and keep an eye on them and help them some. Good Luck!

Hey, thanks for your concern, we're just fine, the fires are to the north of us in Santa Barbara. We're getting a healthy dose of smoke & ash to breathe, though. Ugh. :( Sorry about your chick. Short of you seeing any injury to it, anything could have happened. It does happen that chicks hatch with some kind of hidden congenital issue that takes them off in the first week. I'd keep an eye on mama hen and make sure that, as a fist-time mom, she isn't stomping on the chicks or something. New chicks are pretty rubbery, so they are quite resilient and can take a lot of stomping. Suck to lose chicks, though! :( Velvet ~:>