Candling the eggs and Broody Poops!

So tonight under the cover of darkness my son and I went to candle the eggs to check for growth. So we started with Lucy.  Lucy was originally given 8 eggs, numbered 1-8.  The other day I found one of the eggs broken under her, so she is down to 7.  Out of the seven I could clearly see spider veining in five of them.  I left the other two, just in case I couldn't see the growth yet.  Generally on or about day 3of incubation you can see what looks like a spider developing on the yolk when you hold the egg up to a  bright light source. I use a Brinsea OvaScope. With some shells, especially darker brown and green ones it is difficult to see through the shell until there is more development.  So while Lucy was not happy with me pulling the eggs out from under her super warm belly...especially with my cold hands, I was super happy to see all the veining. 

Then on to Ethel.  Now little miss Ethel...she is a fiery hen...she is very protective and lets me know with a quick sharp peck that she is not a fan of me.  Well she had her butt facing the crate door, so I thought it would be perfect to go right in under her and pull the eggs out one at a time to candle them.  So as I pulled one and then another out candling them, I would tell the results to my son who was diligently taking notes and petting his favorite rooster. Ethel was originally given 8 eggs as well, lettered A-H. I ended up finding one that didn't have a letter, a green egg..not sure where she got it, if she stole it or if another hen got in the crate and layed it one of the times I had it open for Ethel to get out and stretch her legs and use the facilities. So she has nine eggs now and of the nine, seven are showing growth. So I am quite pleased with my fertility rate.  

 Well I was just pulling the last egg out when Ethel decided she had had enough for the night.  She stood up and started to turn around to peck me when she let loose of the biggest broody poop I have ever seen.  This was an epic chicken crap!  Likely for me, she was turning her head towards me, which meant her butt turned away from me and narrowly missed landing on my hand and the egg I was trying to get out from under her.  I said "Oh my, that was just a huge broody poop, Ethel...and a stinky one!"  About 20 seconds later, the smell hit Alex...."Mom, what is that smell?  It is is sick!"  I was laughing and Ethel was not amused at all.  

So what is a broody poop you ask???  Well a chicken poops on average once every hour (geese poop about once every ten minutes...ewwww gross).  But when a hen is broody, her job is to heat those eggs and protect them.  So she holds in her poops...for very long periods of time.  Especially at the beginning and ending of the three week sitting cycle.  So these girls have not really gotten off of the eggs since Monday night....So when I disturbed her enough and she stood up, naturally she could not hold it anymore and she let go of at least 24 hours of poop!  Alex had to go out of the coop...I thought he was going to vomit...and I have the weaker stomach.  You know how you can change your own kids diaper and it doesn't bother you...well it must be like that for me with the chickens.  I can gag over the dog or cat poop, but the chickens don't bother me.  Imagine that!  

So what is happening as far as growth in those eggs so far?  Well during the 25th hour the heart began to form and ten hours later the ears started to form.  At 42 hours the heart began to beat.  Awe...pumping of the blood...amazing.  From breakfast food to a beating heart in 42 hours.  At 60 hours the nose begins to form and by 62 the legs begin forming.  Finally during day three the wings begin to form.  It still amazes me how the hen knows and can regulate the temperature under her belly and keep the eggs rotated so the eggs form just right...and on schedule.