The Countdown Begins

The eggs were delivered this morning, a day later than they should have been. The package had seen some rough handling during shipping; the box, which had been stamped "F-R-A-G-I-L-E" perhaps a hundred times, had been pierced through in one spot and dented smartly in another.

However, when I got it home and opened it, the clever breeder had double boxed the eggs and packed them quite securely. He also sent many extras, so that I actually ended with more than I ordered. He even sent some Silkie eggs, in case I wanted to try hatching them. Naturally I do. Silkies appear to be furry rather than feathered. Their feathers lack the barbicels that normally give feathers their shape, so they look rather like adorable little mops, and not very much like gallinaceous birds at all.

This photo, from Storm Stryder Poultry, where I ordered, is of a partridge Silkie--quite possibly the hen who laid the eggs now in my incubator:




Actually, Silkies are not considered very good layers because they're so often broody. Hens stop laying, of course, when they're trying to hatch their clutch of eggs... and Silkies are reputedly such good mothers that they will adopt anything... even golf balls, if eggs aren't available. I understand many people utilize Silkies to set eggs for birds that won't otherwise hatch their own eggs, or that won't do so in captivity very often--birds like Leghorns, or even quail.

What I had ordered were more Salmon Faverolles eggs--seeing as how I didn't get any pullets last time--as well as eggs of the Wheaten Ameraucana, a beautiful bird loosely similar in appearance (to my untrained eye) to the Salmon Favs, but smaller. The coloring is slightly different, and the number of toes is also different, but they also have the bearded appearaqnce that I love, and the eggs are a beautiful blue-green.

I do love the Faverolles. The friendliest bird of the three I currently have is still my Faverolles rooster, Jean-Jacques. I have to wonder if it's because I hatched him myself, unlike the other two... or if it's because I had the time to really spend and choose the friendliest of his bunch to keep... ALSO unlike the hens I have. Fanny and Marguerite are both friendly, of course, but Jean-Jacques is literally ecstatic to see me when I enter the room, and can't wait to perch on me.

Regardless, I should have all those factors working for me again with this hatch, and with all the different breeds and eggs, my incubator is colorful right now.

Here are the Faverolles eggs, much larger and darker than my last batch:




These are the Ameraucana eggs (with the three Silkie eggs):




Here is the whole incubator full:



For the hatch this time, my husband was kind enough to have purchased an automatic egg turner for me. This means I can leave the house for more than a six hour stretch at a time. I'm excited about that, but I think I will miss the personal connection with my eggs, feeling their warmth as I turn them with tentative, gentle fingers.