My son just called! Chicken number 2 just hatched!
OK, they are now officially named Lefty and Righty!
I'm off to go buy camera batteries!
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
CHICKY #1 HATCHES!!!!
As of this morning, 31-MAR I have one happy, healthy, chicky baby from Chickenaddict's donated eggs! S/he looks to be cochin/serama mix, little tiny yellow thing, with lightly feathered legs, and "smudges" of grey. Quietest chick I've ever had, too! I kept waiting to hear "peep! peep! peep!" and never heard a sound!I have one chick who has pipped a decent size hole, but seems to be exhausted. There are 3 other eggs in the hatcher that may or may not hatch. I left them in the hatcher this morning, because, quite frankly, letting a chick hatch on my person is rather itchy and dirty... plus the determined little chick was trying to hatch out through my sternum, no matter that I kept rotating the hole to face "outward". If I was at home, where I could monitor and clean up it might be a little different, but at work is a different story.
Monday, March 16, 2009
I HAVE VEINING!!!!
I candled the eggs last night (Day 7) and I have definite veining in 5 of the 8 eggs!
I had 1 with no development, 1 scrambled, and 1 that might have veining......
So, the experiment continues!
Katie
I had 1 with no development, 1 scrambled, and 1 that might have veining......
So, the experiment continues!
Katie
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
How to Kill an Old Army Sergeant
I work for the US Army, and I spend my days dealing with soldiers. One of my good friends is SFC S. (name withheld to protect the innocent) SFC S. is what I consider an 'old school' soldier. A 'John Wayne tough, been there-done that, I've seen everything and nothing can take me off guard' type of soldier. I've known him for years, on and off duty, and I've never seen him express anything more than a brief chuckle.
I stopped down in his office yesterday. We chatted for a while, and at last I calmly inserted into the conversation, "I'm incubating 8 eggs." He looked at me and said, "You're pregnant?" Nope. Guess again. He said, "You carrying them around in your pocket?" I reached into my cleavage and pulled out a brown egg. He looked at the egg, he looked at me. He looked at the egg, and he started to laugh. Not a light little laugh; this was hold-his-sides, tears-running-down-his-face, foot-stomping, laughing. Just about the time he started to get himself under control, I reached in and pulled out a blue egg. That sent him right off again. I believe it was 5th egg that made him gasp, "Get out! Go away! Just let me die in peace!"
It was a good day.
I stopped down in his office yesterday. We chatted for a while, and at last I calmly inserted into the conversation, "I'm incubating 8 eggs." He looked at me and said, "You're pregnant?" Nope. Guess again. He said, "You carrying them around in your pocket?" I reached into my cleavage and pulled out a brown egg. He looked at the egg, he looked at me. He looked at the egg, and he started to laugh. Not a light little laugh; this was hold-his-sides, tears-running-down-his-face, foot-stomping, laughing. Just about the time he started to get himself under control, I reached in and pulled out a blue egg. That sent him right off again. I believe it was 5th egg that made him gasp, "Get out! Go away! Just let me die in peace!"
It was a good day.
Monday, March 9, 2009
"Prove It!"
Well, a little more than 24 hours into the experiment and I am discovering that the 2 overwhelming reactions are, "You have a screw loose... you know that, don't you?" and "Prove it!" While I don't necessarily disagree with the first assessment, the second reaction is much more fun to play with. I've shocked several people today by reaching into my cleavage and pulling out an egg. I'm glad that I decided to put one of the pretty blue Ameracauna eggs on top today... once the person gets over the raw shock of my actually producing an egg, the next question centers back on the egg, and I get a chance to explain about Ameracauna chickens.
Katie
Katie
Experiment ON!
Welcome to everyone who has come over to follow this experiment. If you can think of anyone on the board who wanted to follow this, PM them with the link! The more the merrier!
I started the Experiment on Sunday 8-MAR-2009. Estimated Hatch date: 29-MAR-2009
I have 3 eggs in each bra cup, plus 2 in the cleavage. I put 6 control eggs into the incubator.
I took a fall yesterday (landed on my butt) so I don't know if I scrambled any of them. If I did, I'll just pop some more in the bra. :)
I picked up some chickens yesterday, and I was telling her about the experiment. She was hysterical! When she finally stopped laughing enough to talk, she told her hubby, who didn't believe it at first.
Katie
I started the Experiment on Sunday 8-MAR-2009. Estimated Hatch date: 29-MAR-2009
I have 3 eggs in each bra cup, plus 2 in the cleavage. I put 6 control eggs into the incubator.
I took a fall yesterday (landed on my butt) so I don't know if I scrambled any of them. If I did, I'll just pop some more in the bra. :)
I picked up some chickens yesterday, and I was telling her about the experiment. She was hysterical! When she finally stopped laughing enough to talk, she told her hubby, who didn't believe it at first.
Katie
Friday, March 6, 2009
The Great Hatching Experiment
Last week, a discussion was started on my chicken forum Backyardchickens.com wondering if a human being could incubate a chicken eggs to hatching.
Chicken eggs are normally set at 99-102 degrees in an incubator, so the temp isn't that far off. Then we started to think about areas of the body that are warm all the time. Groin and armpit were discussed and discarded because there is no way you could keep an egg there for 21 days unless you were confined to bed rest. So, that left us with the last best place to incubate an egg - cleavage!
Since I have an extra large "incubator", I was nominated to become the "Broody Hen". This was amid much hilarity, ribbing, and extreme peer pressure. Chicken People tend to be a raucous bunch!
I acquired a dozen fertile eggs from a wonderful lady up in East Bethel, MN. Since they were bantam eggs, which makes them the size of the medium eggs you'd get in the grocery store, I started to realize that I could easily warm more than 1 egg. After a bunch of experimenting (I'll leave that to your imagination) I decided that the optimum number of eggs was 8. The other 4 went into a regular incubator as the "control group". I have started a blog because there were a number of people interested in whether or not something this crazy could possibly work.
Feel free to drop by and see how it goes! Comments and questions are always welcome.
Katie
Chicken eggs are normally set at 99-102 degrees in an incubator, so the temp isn't that far off. Then we started to think about areas of the body that are warm all the time. Groin and armpit were discussed and discarded because there is no way you could keep an egg there for 21 days unless you were confined to bed rest. So, that left us with the last best place to incubate an egg - cleavage!
Since I have an extra large "incubator", I was nominated to become the "Broody Hen". This was amid much hilarity, ribbing, and extreme peer pressure. Chicken People tend to be a raucous bunch!
I acquired a dozen fertile eggs from a wonderful lady up in East Bethel, MN. Since they were bantam eggs, which makes them the size of the medium eggs you'd get in the grocery store, I started to realize that I could easily warm more than 1 egg. After a bunch of experimenting (I'll leave that to your imagination) I decided that the optimum number of eggs was 8. The other 4 went into a regular incubator as the "control group". I have started a blog because there were a number of people interested in whether or not something this crazy could possibly work.
Feel free to drop by and see how it goes! Comments and questions are always welcome.
Katie
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