Now we're up to Day 12 of the broody Wyandotte experiment. During this last week a number of interesting things have happened.

First, the number of eggs in the clutch grew from 9 to 11, and then dropped down to 9 again. This was an easy call. While the Wyandotte was off the nest, one of the other hens was jumping in to make a deposit. But one egg broke, and another one simply disappeared, so we're back to 9. At one point I caught one of the Red Sex Links trying to get into the nest to lay - I kept taking her out and putting her in another box. Finally, I put her in a box where some other eggs had been laid and she settled down. I need to get the nursery partitioned off so I can move the mother and nest box before the chicks start hatching.

For a while I wondered if there would be any chicks. I made a crude candler by cutting out a square of cardboard that goes over the reflector on the light in the coop. I candled at about Day 5, and the results weren't encouraging. About half the eggs showed highly defined pores (see the candling photos here at Easy Chicken to see what I'm talking about), and the rest didn't look like there was anything there. I did the same thing this morning, and it looked a little better. Two were porous and showed little else; two I couldn't tell what on earth was happening; and the remaining 5 (including a couple of the porous ones) looked like the good egg pictured on the right bottom of the (see the candling photos Easy Chicken candling page. Their photos are at two weeks - mine are at the 12 day mark. So there may be a few more chicks in the mix by the end of next week.

The Silkie/Cochin chicks are starting to grow and spar and have discovered the mini ladder in the nursery that I keep for them to perch on. They're getting a little ragged looking, but I think that comes with the breed traits.

My daughter's doe is still at a relatives, hopefully trying to attract the attention of one of their resident bucks. I had the details on the goat gate finished, but it didn't stand up to the acid test of the two wethers trying to escape, so I've got to reconfigure it a bit this weekend, and that should take care of the problem. I need to get my daughter out to clean out the new stall so we can put hay in and get it ready for the hopefully pregnant doe... if and when...

Finally, the egg tally. The last partial week of November brought in 20 eggs for a total of 206 (counting the ones in the clutch). Production is pretty consistent 8 eggs a day. I think the big difference from October is the fact that the lights are back on - that's when I hit the big drop off in production. I thought it might be from the cold, but it's been as cold as it had been earlier, and still a bounty of eggs showing up. Light is the key. Well, one of them.

One final note. In the mail I got the results of a recent blood test from my doctor. My cholesterol was way down, the good cholesterol was way up, and the doctor was way pleased. I was a little nervous about this test since eggs have made serious inroads into being a part of our diet, but I think this proves what many doctors and nutritionists have known for years - that physical activity can set things into balance for you. And my personal physical activity has certainly increased, what with hauling wood and building gates and toting feedbags and carrying bales and pitchforking manure... Yup, the chooks give me eggs, but they've given me something else, too. And it's appreciated.