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