So She Sits

Our broody hen, named Emma, has been setting on her clutch of eggs for 17 days now. I told you about how all this started here.

On day ten, Sam, Jamey and I headed out to the shed after dark equipped with flashlight and camera. We intended to candle the eggs to see which ones were growing chicks inside. Jamey found a flower pot that had a drainage hole in the bottom center of it. We turned it upside down, holding the flashlight inside the flower pot, shining the light up through the hole. Then, as he gently held Emma in one arm, he placed an egg on the hole (where the light was shining up through). What did we see?

Not much. Poor Emma didn't quite make it to the bathroom a couple of times and therefore, the eggs were dirty and not at all easy to see through. In the couple we tried we did think we detected large dark spots, one even seemed to move. We abandoned the task and made plans to try another night but never decided what we would do differently.


Now, at day 17, we still haven't candled the eggs. I like to think of it as waiting until birth to find out the sex of your baby (this is what we do). Only in this instance, we are waiting to find out the sex of the chicks and how many there will be.

Anyway, come Monday or Tuesday, I should have pictures of chicks to post. Oh, I do hope it all goes well. I hope Emma isn't too nervous or stressed about whether she has enough diapers on hand or whether her milk will come in soon enough or how her other children will react to a baby in the house who will be taking up a lot of mommy's time...oh, wait, Emma probably isn't thinking those things. Hmm...I wonder who is.

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