Candeling

There is a thing called candeling that is done to chicken eggs.  It's basically shinning a flashlight through an egg and trying to see what is inside.  I candeled every egg tonight, and took pictures, but I really have no idea what I am looking for or at.  It seemed like all of the pictures online had veins running through them, and I didn't see that in any of my eggs.

I did see a couple that had a dark lump that would move around, which may or may not be good.

Another major problem is that I have no idea when some of these eggs were laid since I didn't realize Silkie Sue was hoarding so many eggs.

In any case, here are some of the pictures I took.

I think this is a bad egg, that circle around the left side is a "blood ring"

This darker area would move when I'd turn the egg over

Another darker mass that would move when the egg was rotated

We have a Chicken in the Kitchen

I've been worried about Silkie Sue for awhile.  I don't think she's eating very much, I've been putting water next to her nesting box but it always seems to be dirty or empty 10 minutes later, and I'm not even sure that any of the eggs are "good".

So I brought her in the house...

Holy Cow how many eggs is she hiding?!?!?!

Stupid Birds

Within about 20 seconds, the guinea attempted to get out of the fence, in the same exact spot, three times.  I think this is enough proof and didn't take pictures of the next 87 times she tried to do the exact same thing.

Carrie and her weird ways

I was waiting for Buffy to finish laying an egg and Carrie decided to hang out.

And then she decided she wanted to get IN the coop...

Now, you have to share...

I've been wondering how the other birds were laying new eggs in the same box that Silkie Sue was in.

Now I know

Gardening is around the corner

I had planned to rent a tiller to get my garden ready.  Then I realized I wanted to scrape the top layer of dirt off some areas to expand the garden, which would require a bobcat or tractor.  So I figured I would have to rent that AND a tiller.  And then I found someone who would come and do the work for me, and only charge me $25 more than what it would cost for me to rent the equipment.

It was getting dark when he finished

 Good timing too, because check out my tray of lettuce seeds.  They don't go into the ground for a couple weeks, but clearly I need to start measuring the rows and planning things.  The first seeds go into the ground the first week in March.

A whole tray of lettuce

Fertilized Eggs

If you've ever wondered what a fertilized chicken egg looks like, this is it.  

The egg on the left has a white-ish circle in the middle of the yolk, that's the fertilized one.

A weekend of work

This weekend was a major weekend of work.

Saturday we spent the day pulling trash out of the woods.  I was determined to do a final trip to the scrap metal yard so we were getting serious about finding everything.   We dragged another water heater out, a washer machine, an oven, a piece to an old tractor, a huge propane tank, a metal headboard, and tons of rusty cans.

We even found this saw.  I thought about hanging it up in the house, but figured I have enough "stuff" already.

Saturday night, I got my February seeds planted inside, on the dinning room table.

The cups on the right were the ones I made out of shredded newspaper

ALL of the cups like these have various tomatoes

This whole tray is a variety of lettuce

Sunday I was outside with the chainsaw, my favorite tool.  I have been meaning to cut up some trees that I had to cut down a few months ago and dragging dead trees and branches out from the woods.  I was trying to clean up the back side of the house.

After seeing the pictures my son took - I need to work on NOT making faces when I'm working

I also borrowed a hacksaw to cut the tires off of a bunch of rusty rims we found in the woods.

Sunday night we picked up a trailer I rented and went to get some mulch.  Shoveling mulch is far less fun than it sounds.  I thought we got a good amount, until I saw the piles we unloaded.  Looks like I will be getting more.

Monday morning, we loaded all the scrap metal in the trailer and headed to the recycling center.

The dumped pile.

The payday

Don't get too excited, this money plus the money we got from the last load, is going to pay a landscaping guy to come do some work in my garden today.

The day had only just started.  From here we went to Lowe's to pick up some stuff I needed, then to pick up some pallets of wood for another project.  We went home to eat before heading out to get 2 yards of soil that we shoveled into the garden and into a raised flower bed I've been working on, and then to another town to pick up an old swing set and slide that I'm going to use for the goats.

Honestly, I had another pair of strong(er) hands to help with the shoveling of the soil and the swing set, or there is no way I could have gotten this all done.

I didn't get everything I wanted done - I still want to get a load of mulch, and I didn't get a load of hay like I wanted to... but my body is pretty darn sore today.

She's gone broody

Not all chickens will sit on a nest of eggs and let them hatch.  It's a hormonal thing and they decide to do it whenever they decide to do it.

It's called "going broody" (brew-dy).

Silkie Sue has gone broody.  I have only seen her on the nest for the past 3 or 4 days.  Today was my chance to see if she really was going broody or if my timing was just off.  I let all of the birds out to free range this morning, and Silkie Sue wasn't moving.

A few hours later she came out to drink some water and get some snacks.

Silkie Sue is our girl with the apron

I ran to the coop so see the 5 or 6 eggs she had been sitting on...

I think that's more than 5 or 6 eggs

THIRTEEN eggs?  And that green one in the middle is HUGE.  She's only laid three of those eggs (she lays small green ones)  so I have no idea how she got the other eggs.

I wrote the dates on the eggs because I think I will try to get any other ones that are laid.  I've never hatched eggs before, so we will see what happens.

Apparently my animals seem to think this is the time to have babies because Jenny has gotten HUGE.  There has got to be more than one kid in there.  

If you like it, then you better put a ring on it

As soon as I let the birds out of the coop, Clyde wants to do his deed.  He goes chasing after one bird after another for several minutes.  I keep meaning to get a video of it so today I finally got my phone out quick enough to catch one of the chases... but Buffy was not about to give in.  

That's my girl, make him buy you a ring first  :)