Egg Candling:  We're learning how to candle eggs (it just means shining a very bright flashlight into the egg in a dark room so you can see what's inside).  Here's a really neat video of candling where you can actually SEE THE HEART BEATING ON DAY 5!  Scroll ahead to 8:15 on the timer if you want to get right to the best part!  This is in a duck egg, so it's much easier to see then the chicken eggs.

 

Why are we candling??  Little Miss Sunshine is sitting on eggs, she's been on them now for a week.  Yes, it's the wrong time of year, but she decided to be broody and successfully sat and layed an egg a day for three days and is still sitting on them.  She gets up off them for about 15 min. each day.  We've been having a little trouble keeping the other hens from getting in with her and laying their eggs (she chose the box that everyone seems to like to lay their eggs in, even though there are 5 other boxes to choose from).  :-)  If all goes well, the eggs will hatch in about 21 days.  We are hopeful, but not too much since it's almost December and getting cold.  She's nice and warm and so are her eggs, but anything can happen this time of year.  We will keep you updated!

 

 

Here's one more video of an egg being candled, clearly showing the little chick moving around inside!  So cool!