Day 18

I went to take the egg turner out of the incubator and put it on lockdown. I candled the eggs one last time.

None of them made it.

Status Report

Things I'm doing in my life right now:

* Incubating eggs. It's been mildly frustrating as the eggs I got were definitely sub-par, but I've got at least one little chick in there thriving. If it ends up being my $114 chicken, so be it.

* Planning a garden and gathering supplies/seeds. Probably going to get started on seedlings near the end of the month :)

* Researching sheep and alpacas and making plans to purchase some in the near future. Sheep sooner than alpacas due to both $$ and ease of care.

* Protesting.

* Sleeping. A lot.

* Got some fillings done yesterday, so trying to get used to the new way my mouth feels. Might need to go in again if this left side keeps bothering me, but we'll see.

* Crying. A lot.

* Trying to stay up to date on the goings on in the world. There's a lot to keep up with. Making informed decisions is hard and kind of scary, but a necessary part of life, especially in today's political climate.

* Making more of an effort to get involved in the community.

* Making more of an effort to hang out with friends. I have a hard time balancing friend time and me time.

* Thinking about babies. Idk if the biological clock theory rings true for all, but it's ringing on my ovaries something fierce.

* Regretting the time I don't spend drawing, but then being scared to death to spend time drawing. I've been writing and editing a webcomic a lot since November (nano), but whenever I get to the point where I need to start character design, I wig myself out.

* Struggling. A lot.

* Questioning my faith. Or maybe moreso questioning what I thought my faith was, or what other people expect my faith to look like. Worrying about this all the time.

* Probs getting more bunnies too :3 Emailing breeders and getting info on some fuzzy friends.

* Trying to balance all this and way more.

Candling 1 Week In

I candled the eggs today and found both good and bad. Most of them, I'm pretty sure, are duds. (The only experience I have with this was when Margot went broody and took over a nest of eggs. At 1 week, they all showed much more obvious signs of development, like one of the eggs pictured below.)

None of the Lavender Orpingtons are fertile from what I can tell.

This one has weird bubbles going on inside it.

Not sure what that blob is, but it looks more like a blood spot than a developing chick.

One of the Ameraucana eggs was fertile, but has the red ring of death inside. 

Red Ring of Death - Not just for Xbox.

I think a total of 5 are fertile and developing, 3 Ameraucanas and possibly 2 Marans. Though really, only two of these look like they're doing really well.

Not super convinced by this one, but maybe?

Another possibility?

Yes, go baby! Keep growing! This is what Margot's eggs looked like.

I super hope this is a chick and not just a super dark shell.

Dubious at best about this one.

So. I guess we'll see. Overall still pretty disappointed in my "fertile" hatching eggs. I think from now on, I'll stick to buying chicks, then try incubating from my own flock.