TOO early.

A hard lesson on being impatient.

My sweet hen Butterscotch is quite broody. She has been broody for what seems like a long time (most eggs hatch within 21 days). I wish I had written down when she first became broody so I would know exactly how many days.

She is quite hysterical actually, she gets all puffy and protective when I come to check on her and the eggs. I worry a little bit about how much she is eating and drinking. She also makes this crazy, wonderful sound when we get a little "too close". It sounds a little bit like purring, but she is clearly saying you are "too close".

I was a bit impatient on Tuesday. I thought she had been broody for too long and began to think that the eggs weren't fertile. I didn't want her to continue to sit and sit and sit thinking the eggs would hatch when they actually weren't going to...So I took one of her eggs. I had figured that she had been on the eggs AT LEAST 4 weeks. I thought her eggs couldn't be fertile. But when I opened it up I realized that some eggs must take longer than 3 weeks. My candling experience was inadequate and unfortunately my mistake might have been at the expense of a baby chick. :( However, now I have learned how to candle an egg and hopefully I have some baby chicks on their way... If these eggs hatch (about 5-6 of them) where will they go, what if they are roosters? With excitement comes a conundrum.