The Great Chicken Adventure: Day 18

Today the eggs moved off the automatic turner right onto the floor of the incubator for the last 3 days before hatching! I was a bit nervous taking them off - but I got it done and we'll see if I did it right when they actually hatch out. I was supposed to take them off the turner at the same time as I put them in, but that didn't work for my schedule today, so I did it a couple hours early. I lifted the turner tray out, filled the second water trough in the incubator and placed the eggs back in the incubator (theres a screen in the bottom that they rest on). The extra water is added to make the incubator more humid, and that helps the shells soften for the chicks to hatch out. And until the first chicks are fully hatched out, I don't open the incubator again. When I was moving the eggs, I could feel that they were heavier, and they felt nice and warm. One really wanted to roll when I put it back in the incubator. I tried to make all the eggs not touch, but the one kept rolling, he seemed to be a bit lopsided. The eggs could start hatching anytime, so I have to check often the next couple of days

. Plenty of updates to come!