We do a lot of experimentation here. So when Jackson attacked a hen last week and we discovered that she had been broody and was building a nest, we decided to try incubating the 18 eggs she left behind. Knowing she had been laying eggs outside the nest boxes, I looked around and discovered another secret trove of 10 eggs. Neither of us has any experience what so ever at incubating and hatching eggs, so we are excited to give this a try. Two eggs were cracked, so we discarded them and set 26 in the incubator.
Today is day 8 of the 21-day incubation period. This morning I candled the eggs to see if any were fertile. I only found one that did not seem to have a developing embryo inside. That leaves 25 to incubate for another week, when I will candle them again and see which ones are progressing. I found that a small (but bright) LED flashlight cradled in my fist worked pretty well as a low cost candling device.
Eggs in the incubator.
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