Update

On the 19th I put 15 Silkie eggs and 7 Faverolles eggs (from my pair) into my new incubator. I checked them at 7 days and, unfortunately, only 5 of the Silkie eggs were developing. I cracked open the clears and they looked like they were not fertile. I checked a couple days later and one of the 5 Silkie eggs had a blood ring so I had to throw it out. Right now I have only 4 Silkie eggs that are doing well. 1 Cuckoo, 1 Splash, and 2 White. I also threw in 7 Faverolles eggs from my pair and 6 of them are developing great. One of those also had a blood ring and I had to throw it out.. which I expected because all but  2 of the Faverolles eggs that I put into the incubator had been washed and in my fridge for eating! I didn't expect much out of them but I've been pleasantly surprised. I can't wait to get some babies from Derp and Penny!

Sorry, no pictures this time!  Lockdown is due on Sun. Jan 5th.

Update

It's been a while since I last posted. The first set of chicks that I hatched out (D'uccles and Silkie Crosses) were killed by a skunk that dug underneath the coop. I tried to keep the next batch of chicks safe (Ameraucanas) by releasing them in one of my barn stalls when they were old enough to go outside. I thought I had blocked up every hole into the stall but the same skunk that killed my first chicks ended up finding a way to get in and killed all of the second batch of chicks except for one hen who got up onto the roosting pole. Her name is now "Lucky". Lol. At first I was devastated that I had put so much time and effort into raising chicks that ended up being skunk food. After the initial shock, I realized that it was a learning experience. The chicks did not survive because I did not teach them to get up onto a roost before putting them outside and because I did not plug the holes into the stall well enough. The first batch of chicks died because I had the coop sitting on soft earth that was easy to dig through and I did not have a way to prevent whatever from digging up through the bottom of the coop.

I forgot to close the coop door one night and something came along and killed my silkies. I suspect it was a fox as all I found of one was its feet and the other was gone completely. Whatever it was, it was large enough that it attacked Derp, who is every bit of 8lbs. Derp was all right, but he was missing quite a few tailfeathers!

So now, going into 2014, I have three chickens total. Derp and Penny the Faverolles, and Lucky the Ameraucana. The skunk is gone and I have not had any trouble from predators since I dispatched it into skunk heaven. I will be adding a wire bottom to my coops and making a brooder with roosting poles inside of it.

I sold my Brinsea Mini Advance Incubator and purchased... a Hovabator Genesis 1588! Now I can hatch out up to 42 eggs at a time. I am going to pick up 12+ Silkie eggs tomorrow that I purchased from a local breeder through Ebay and add around 6 of Penny's Faverolles eggs as well. I'm curious to see how Penny's eggs will hatch out because I've had quite a few of them stored in the refrigerator.

My new Hovabator Genesis 1588