I was thinking I had this whole week yet before those little beaks started popping open those eggshells but apparently my mental calendar isn't the same as the actual calendar so hatching day is any day. Sure it could still be a week but it's likely sooner. (I'll keep you updated on that.)
But Hatching Day almost didn't have a chance. Last night we had a pretty strong thunderstorm roll through and dumped 1 inch of water on us in about 20 minutes. I guess the lightening and thunder were pretty impressive and the wind blew REALLY hard but this exhausted mom slept through every flash and boom and howl and downpoured raindrop so I can't vouch for that. I'm just going off of what the husband and my mother in law said.
Anyway, said storm dumped some much needed rain on the area but it also dumped some trees which landed on power lines and we were without electricity for almost 5 hours as a result. I slept through the storm but woke around 4 to a pitch black bedroom and my first thought after I realized the power was out wasn't 'I wonder if a tree fell on the line' or 'I hope my greenhouse isn't halfway down the driveway' or anything so mundane. No, my very first thought is as follows.
"Hmmm. Power is out so that means no lights, no electricity, no power to my incubator which means the temperature has dropped WHICH MEANS MY NEARLY READY TO HATCH CHICKS MAY BE DEAD!" *cue frantic search for a flashlight or cellphone so I could check the temperature* (the flashlight was oh so nicely provided by the half asleep husband.)
The temperature had dropped by about 20 degrees over the course of 4 hours and my stomach sank but I did my best to keep what heat was in there staying in there. I wrapped my heavy cozy robe around the incubator, dug out some of those hand warmer packets to hopefully keep the temperature from dropping more, and crawled back into bed with little hope left.
Much to my surprise, a quick check this morning showed there's still live baby chicks in those eggs and I'm still hopeful that my egg-speriment will be a success.
So here's to hoping my eight little eggs reveal eight little chicks soon.
