Spring and the vet

The vet has been today and the puppies have been health-checked and had their first shots for parvo, distemper, and hepatitis. All the pups are doing well, and the three boys all have both balls in their scrotums (I tried and tried to think of a way to phrase that, that would not sound so crass and vulgar, and I failed!).

Meanwhile, the past few days I feel a hint of spring in the air, and that can only mean one thing: the incubators are coming out ready for hatching season!

I have bought a still air incubator because, although I like the forced air automatic Brinsea Octagon incubator I started with last year very much as an incubator, I was not impressed with it as a hatcher. It was difficult to keep the humidity up, and if the hatch took a long time, the peeps who were last out were sticky from the constant airflow drying out the membranes, and the fan got clogged with fluff from the hatch. The idea is now to carry on setting in the Octagon and use the still-air incubator as a dedicated hatcher, since the conditions in it should be better for this and the peeps will have more room. I am eagerly awaiting word of my goose eggs being ready for me to collect, and hope this year we will have better luck with the geese, as last year only two hatched and they both died of a mysterious disease.

We also have a visitor come to stay with us for a while. This is Twiggy, and as poodles should, she loves people and is bright and bouncy and happy!