Hatchlings - not good news

Well, the hatching is NOT going as planned. The chicks are hatching, all right. But I have already lost three. Two drowned themselves as soon as the opportunity presented. The other just died - I have no idea why. There are still seven in the incubator (and still more to hatch) but I am feeling pretty inadequate right now.

I guess I sort of expected that if they hatched they would be fine and dandy. I am pretty good at raising chicks I get from the hatchery. I lose only a very small percentage, and those I can pretty well figure out why.

This does not deter me from wanting to try again - I will keep hatching till I get it right. My goal is to be able to incubate eggs from the Red Freedom Rangers I have next year, as well as turkey eggs from my Narragansetts and perhaps eggs from my Pekin ducks. My daughter has geese, and we were thinking that perhaps a hatch or so of them per year would be a Good Thing.