Golden orbs of future

I have made a few posts recently explaining the wonders of chicken biology, and now I have some pictures for illustration. 

Our farm-sitting neighbor, Nancy, is finally home after a long trip to visit family, which meant it was finally time to open up and try the goat cheese I made over two months ago. It has a strong, goaty, good flavor, a bit like manchego cheese. We also stopped into the hen house so I could show off the mamas. 

The baby chicks are getting so big! They are rather feathered, and even ventured outside today in the below-freezing weather to peck at grass and learn about the ramp back into the house. 

Meanwhile, Mama #9 remained steadfast on her nest - warming and rotating her eggs with the utmost dedication. Unfortunately, her sisters don't seem to properly appreciate the important work she's doing and instead treat her like a nest-hog (despite the empty nest box next to her). Last time I counted, there were 14 eggs under her! And today, two more had been assimilated. A hen really shouldn't have to deal with more than 12 eggs at a time, particularly when it is below freezing out and she's a first time mama, doing everything she can to keep those babies warm. 

It seemed prudent to do what I could to lighten her work load - first removing the fake egg from her next, then marking all the eggs in the nest so fresh ones can be easily removed (and eaten), then finally "candling" each egg by waiting until dark and holing each egg against my brightest flashlight to reveal the mysteries inside. 

Fresh, empty egg - no baby growing in here!

I went through all the eggs twice a few hours apart, first with Nancy, then with Brother Daniel and Amanda, to be sure I wasn't snatching any developing babies from their mama. Mama #9 was very patient and calm as I felt around under her, drawing each egg out in turn, checking it, then moving it to under her other wing. The empty eggs we collected to take inside. 

This egg revealed a speckled shell in the light. The spots made identifying an embryo difficult. 

With the number of eggs under the mama reduced nearly in half, she can now spend more time and energy and heat caring for the fertilized eggs. The other eggs, with no signs of life, proceeded inside to phase II of testing: the float test. About half the eggs under the hen were growing and the other half were not. About half the eggs we removed were still good to eat (sunk to the bottom of the bowl of water) while the other half were not so fresh (stood on end in the water - due to a drying out egg with increased air inside the shell). The good ones we will be eating while the other four will be thrown as far as I can off the cliff.

Veins and an eye spot showing through the shell - sure signs of future life!

Seeing into the unborn shell of the chick was magical - like a chicken ultrasound but instead of looking at a screen with a scratchy image of the baby-to-be, looking through the eggs we could see the actual babies moving around, active in their shells only a week (or less) into their three-weeks of shell-bound growth. I didn't realize how much they would be moving about inside their shells, kicking their not-yet grown feet, flapping their undeveloped wings, and maybe looking back at the bright light with their newly-forming eyes. 

I am hopeful and excited for the December 1st hatch, though I made a point of not counting my chicks before they hatch. Less than 14, more than 3 eggs under her now - and a to-be-determined number of chicks in the future. 

To give a quick update on our current Honeymoon Point Census, we now have Grandpa, Tim, Ariel, Brother Daniel, Soon-to-be-sister Amanda, Father Joe, Mother-in-law Ronni, Tilly Puppy, Oliver Pig, Petunia and Esther Goats, 2 roosters, 11 hens, 1 androgynous chicken, 3 chicks, many eggs - and Daniel and Amanda's 4 bunnies (and, of course, all our spider friends living in the corners). With Joe came a very special birthday present for Tim which Joe has been traveling with for the last few months.

This picture doesn't do it justice, but Tim was making the most delighted face I have ever seen on him.

Tim now has a miniature metal lathe/mill machine, the perfect miniature counterpart to his larger machine, only about 4% of the size - I did the math and it really is about 4% of the size of the other machine, no exaggeration. Tim's large machine is as large as he could imagine ever needing for all our projects, though it struggles with the tiny precision of amateur rocket nozzles and some of his other projects. This miniature lathe is just the thing for those fine finishing touches, and even works with some of Tim's tools and accessories that were just a little small for the big machine.