The first and biggest sprouts so far are in the Victoria Rhubarb jug. I count about half a dozen little seedlings poking up.
We did lose one baby bunny in the colony nest. It had been pulled out of the nest box and was already dead when I found it. It was one of the cute brown ones too. We don't seem to have the best luck when we get that color. Probably just coincidence. I'm waiting until it's nice and warm to take them out to count them though. Even with 40-something today, it just didn't seem warm enough to expose them to the cold - even for just a minute. All three momma rabbits circle round and make angry noises if I mess with the babies too long. Today I pulled one of the bigger white bunnies out so #5 could see it. It's not a broken black - it has yellow markings. A broken fawn perhaps? It looks like there's at least one smaller kit of the same color/pattern as well. It should be interesting to see how these turn out.
Because we had some issues with condensation using a plastic nest box last summer, today I stole the lid and drilled a bunch of holes in it to help keep the humidity in check. I will check back tomorrow to see if it seems to have helped at all.
Since the duck eggs went into the incubator on Sunday, and the instructions for the included candler suggest checking for fertility on Day 4... I'm not sure if that means to check tomorrow (counting Sunday as Day 1), or Thursday (counting Monday at noon as Day 1 as they'd been in for 24 hours). I think curiosity will get the best of me and I'll end up checking at least a couple of the fresher eggs tomorrow. I will also be checking eggs on Sunday when we're set to put the chicken eggs in.
Neither Henrietta (barred rock hen) nor Dashi (rouen duck hen) laid eggs today. I know they don't lay every day, but it's odd that they'd both take the same day off. No worries though. I sent the $3 to school with #1 to pay her friend for 20 hatching eggs from her flock. I'm hoping they will be able to deliver them Friday as planned. Fingers crossed. Then they'll be in the refrigerator until Saturday afternoon when they'll go back on the counter to warm up to room temp before being sanitized and put in the incubator on Sunday. Her friend remarked that they have a lot of chickens with "Afros" - which I take to mean Polish. Either way, if we get any to hatch, I'll be thrilled. This is all new to me.