Yay! Congrats on the chick! If you have any eggs that have yet to hatch, you might leave them an extra day or so, to catch any late bloomers. But mersiepoo is right, if there is some reason the chick doesn't make it out, it's usually best. :( I've only had to assist one chick out, and that was Bear, who is now our Head Hen. She was a very large chick in a very large egg, and we just picked a few pieces of shell from around her head once she'd pipped and it was clear she was in a bad position to hatch and couldn't turn in the egg like she needed to--then we returned the egg to the incubator and she finished up herself. But I'll never forget that little beak poking through the pipped shell and YELLING, then retracting and having a curious little eyeball appear at the hole. My husband was the first thing she saw and she's STILL bonded to him. :) Yesterday, Bear went broody, and picked a fight with our Beta Roo, Scott, who is a banty. She tussled with him so bad that he knocked one of the ends off one of his spurs, then he stood over it and looked at it, VERY confused. :) No real injuries, though, and today Bear is setting nicely on a nest. We haven't decided if we are going to give her some eggs to hatch or maybe some of the chicks from the incubator in 2 weeks. Velvet ~:>

I totally understand how you feel. Up until last Friday, I could not have hurt a HOSP. However today I would rather wring their neck as look at them. Three weeks ago we had a hatch of 5 baby bluebirds. We watched them everyday growing like litttle weeds into fully feathered beauties. My husband get telling me the HOSPs would end up killing our babies. He wanted to get a trap, but I stubborningly refused.. A decision I would live to regret. That day was a week ago today when we saw a male HOSP on their house. We found bluebird feathers on the ground. When we opened the box the babies were baldheaded and bleeding. their eyes and beaks had been pecked as well as there wings . My husband handed me the first baby who died in my hand. As I stood there watching my husband pulled 2 more out that were dead. As we walked away the HOSP headed for the house again to finish them off. I took the nest out, asked my husband to get me a spare house bringing it in our house to keep that monster away. I held those little guys and cried my heart out. They died sometime after 1 am when I fell asleep. We ordered a Sparrow trap that night. In 2 days we have caught over a dozen sparrows. I have been responsible for doing away with over half of them and I am not done yet. I guess it takes seeing what I saw to get to where I am.

I AM MICHAEL FROM LAGOS NIGERIA have been experiencing this for the past few weeks. I did not check toilet because I never thought that mosquito can come out of frequently used water closet toilet.but each time weopen the lid a lot of mosquito fly out with many drown on the surface of the clean water in the toilet But today I made a discovery I was surprised to .see mosquitos coming from the sewage tank underground through thepipe .they are tracing the light to the toilet. Above the S portion of the wc where water is gushing out from the top after flushing there is a hole that link directly to the pipe that carries waste to the sewage .tank. mosquitos from the sewage tank are passing through the hole into WC It is a short cut into the WC without passing through the S portion that always fill with water The Only solution is to block with tissue paper. You won't see mosquito or Any toilet pest again

I know!!! What is up with all that running around by Pipevine cats before they pupate??? Maybe they are genetically programed to go on a long journey before pupation. Keeping them in an enclosure disrupts the programing, so they ramble around the enclosure for days, who knows? I want to see photos when they emerge!! Taking some to the country is great idea. I can't believe this but I am actually removing butterfly eggs!!! Ughhh!! But the A. tomentosa vines just can't handle the munching right now. I moved what was left of the potted A. macrophylla vines to a sunnier spot and, by george, they are looking better and might even grow this time!! None of these got to flower this first year, so no seeds to play with but when they grow back out, I'll try cuttings with leaves and "stapling" some vines to the dirt in the pot. There's next year to consider. :) Anna