27. An Eggsperiment

Remember when I causally mentioned that I am going to try and hatch out some chicks? Well, the odyssey has begun.

First, the data.

I have two hens who have been broody for about a week, which means that I can put some eggs underneath them, and according to nature, they will “set” on them for the next twenty-one days, keeping them the appropriate temperature and humidity, and rotating the eggs to keep the yolk from sticking in one place, possibly damaging the developing chick inside. Once the little ones hatch, mama will then teach the chicks all about being chickens, continuing to keep them warm, and protecting them from anything that might threaten these peeping fluff-balls: rats, roos, winter temperatures, jealous or territorial hens, avian predators, barn cats, dogs, and you know, the works.

Look at the concentration in those eyes!

I have identified ten eggs I want to use in this first round of experimentation, labeled each with a number, and placed five under each hen. The hen in the higher next box gets the odd numbered, the bottom gets the even numbered.

As far as the breeds of the eggs are concerned, I can’t really say. I have roos of varying types—Easter Eggers, Speckled Sussex, Austra White—and I don’t control who the mates with whom, so EEs could have fertilized Cuckoo Marans or Austra Whites with Golden Comets. In fact, I don’t know if some of the eggs the girls are setting on are even fertilized, because you can’t tell if an egg is viable unless you crack open the egg and look at the yolk, which, then, renders the possibly viable egg unfit for development. No matter what the Internet says, you cannot tell an egg is fertilized until several days after fertilized incubation. After those days of appropriate incubation, you can see development through candling. What the heck is “candling”? Simply, shining a bright light through the egg to make the insides visible.

At the very least, I know I have seven fertilized eggs (since I paid for them, and of those definitely fertilized eggs, I will possibly get three Olive Eggers and four “mysteries”, but since two of those four “mystery eggs” are blue, I hope that I will get more Easter Egger hens).

All of this is to say, I have ten eggs incubating with an expectation for at least one chick to hatch just after the New Year. Here’s to Mother Nature doing her thing.

Lenny, Carl, Midge, and a little Speckled Sussex check out the day’s egg haul.