Homesteading Adventure #3: Second Official Candling

We candled again today and we are left with 16 eggs in our incubator.
The 8 eggs we marked as X at last candling were all still showing no progress and have been tossed.
We are holding steady still with 6 ?s and 10 :-)s.
What's interesting is that a couple of our ?s turned into :-)s and a couple :-)s turned into ?s.
In fact, two of our original ?s (eggs #15 & #17) were the eggs that this time stunned us with MOVEMENT! That was pretty darn cool!
One egg (#22) has me really confused. There is definitely something in it. But it seems to move only when I gently move the egg. I couldn't really tell if it was moving on it's own at all. So egg #22 has an * next to it. I'm interested to see if it continues to grow or if we lost it.
Since I don't have a picture for you today, check out this link:
http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=261876
You can follow along with us and see what our eggs look like.
Today is day 7. Our approximate hatch date is March 14th.

Here's what our list looks like:
Egg # 26-Feb 28-Feb
3 :-) :-)
4 :-) :-)
5 :-) :-)
8 :-) :-)
9 :-) :-)
10 ? ?
11 :-) ?
12 :-) :-)
13 :-) ?
15 ? :-) Movement!
17 ? :-)Movement!
18 :-) :-)
19 :-) :-)
20 ? ?
22 ? ?
23 ? ?

Homesteading Adventure #2: Candling Eggs

After setting the eggs, it's customary to wait until day 7 to candle. This gives the little chicky time to start growing.
I'm not sure if you know this about me or not, but I'm incredibly impatient. Hence why I am starting our homestead on 1/2 acre in a lake community neighborhood instead of waiting until Jeremy and I have saved the moolah for a bigger piece of property. No time like the present, right?
On day 3, my curiosity got the best of me and I decided I was going to candle just one. I grabbed Jeremy's little hunting flashlight and took out the one white egg (egg #16) in the incubator. The white one should be the perfect one to use because it's harder to see anything in the brown shelled and green shelled eggs. I held the light up to the egg and gave a little peak. It was at this point that I realized I have no idea what I'm supposed to be looking for. At day 3, there might be some veining, but it would be light. I can't see anything. Just looks like an egg if you ask me.
On day 4 (patience, anyone?), the incubator needed humidity. And if I had to open the window, well...I might as well make good use of the temperature loss, right? So I grabbed Jeremy's little hunting flashlight and the white egg. I still have no idea what I am doing. I still can't see anything. I pulled out a green egg (egg #18). I held the flashlight up to the bottom of that one. Whoa, whoa! Wait! The green one was different. It was completely dark at the top and was still see thru at only the bottom 1/3. But where is this veining I keep reading about? So at this point I am now a little concerned that maybe I'm not actually growing a chick in the egg, but maybe a time bomb. Maybe this egg is filled with a nasty stinky goo that would be growing more nasty and stinky by the hour.
I went to my newest favorite place on the internet (after Facebook, of course) and posted a thread on www.backyardchickens.com . Someone suggested getting an LED flashlight as it would be brighter and allow me to see more. No one seems overly concerned that my egg might be filled with something gross, but I couldn't quite get the image of what my incubator would look like with an exploded rotten egg inside.
So yesterday, on day 5 I braved the elements and went to Walmart in search of a new candling flashlight in the middle of a snow storm.
The girls and I crowded into my bedroom and I gave each of them a task. Maggie was in charge of the light switch and Lizzie was in charge of the Sharpie marker. I opened the incubator and with shaking hands - seriously I was soooo nervous - I started at egg #1 and we worked our way through to egg #24.
Maggie lost interest by egg #12 and went to play. But Lizzie actually got pretty darn good at candling. About half way through, I started asking her opinion and let her decide how we were going to mark them.
x = nothing, completely clear
? = There was something going on but we couldn't see any veining. We aren't sure at this point if the embryo has died or maybe wasn't quite as developed or if the shell was too dark to determine
:-) = All looks good. There was veining: Sign of life!!!!!

Here were our results:
#1: x
#2: x
#3: :-)
#4: :-)
#5: :-)
#6: x
#7: x
#8: :-)
#9: :-)
#10: ?
#11: :-)
#12: :-)
#13: :-)
#14: x
#15: ?
#16: x
#17: ?
#18: :-)
#19: :-)
#20: ?
#21: x
#22: ?
#23: ?
#24: x

x = 8
? = 6
:-) = 10 !!!!

We decided to give the X's another 2 or 3 days, just to see if anything changes. At this point, I would be very surprised if they did anything. But we'd hate to toss them if there's a chance. We're hoping to see change in the ?'s. If not, they'll be tossed with the x's.

How exciting! Potentially 16 chicks! I guess it's time to start thinking about the brooder. And I really have to start designing the coop and run. It would not be good to have full grown chickens living in the house with us because we haven't gotten their home built.

Only 15 days until hatch day!

Homesteading Adventure #1: Setting Eggs

For quite some time, I have been wanting to start a life of less dependency and more self reliance. I think this mind set may have started when I started researching natural living and organic food. I started getting a little panicky about the things that were being put into my food and how they were affecting my body. More importantly, how they were affecting my children's bodies.
More recently, I watched Food, Inc. Whoa! If I'd ever had doubts about wanting to raise and grow my own food, that movie convinced me.
Also, I am a huge fan of Mother Earth News magazine. This magazine has been around since 1970 and is (as my father puts it)"an old hippy magazine". I get a new one every other month and I can't put it down. The information I have gotten from just 5 issues is amazing. I started making my own bread using the information found in an article in Mother Earth. I am inspired by the articles of people who homestead. I have picked up many tips for my springtime and fall gardens. I highly recommend you pick up a copy and check it out.
And most recently, I found an ad in the back of Mother Earth News for the book "The Backyard Homestead". So far, it's been the best $20 I've ever spent. This book teaches you how to grow almost everything you need to feed your family on just 1/4 acre.
And so.....BBV Farms is born!

For the last month or two, I have had cabin fever like I've never had before. I'm grouchy and tired and anxious. I need a project. I am itching so badly to feel the sun beating on my skin. To see the grass again. To start my backyard homestead.

Finally...today, I feel our backyard homestead has gotten it's start! I set 24 eggs in the incubator this afternoon. We should have chicks pipping around March 14th! I've been wanting to hatch my own chicks for about 4 years. I've researched and read and thought and planned. The other day, I found a local lady who was selling 12 chicken hatching eggs for just $10 on a chicken forum and I committed to purchasing eggs.
See, that's how I roll. If I don't actually push myself into a life altering change, I can talk it and plan it to death. So, I committed to purchasing 12 eggs.
It was at that point that I realized I should probably purchase an incubator. That's also how I roll. I tend to put the cart before the horse (hence, why I now have no idea where exactly I'm going to house up to 24 chicks once they hatch).
After two days of extreme temp changes in my incubator, I spoke with Valerie (my new chicken friend) and we decided that I should move the incubator to my bedroom as it seems to be the only place in this house that isn't ridiculously drafty. Yes...I know....incubating chicken eggs in ones bedroom???? It's only three weeks. And they are kind of stuck in the corner of the closet....kinda. It was amazing though how quickly the temperature regulated when it was moved to a warmer part of the house.
Jeremy and I drove out to Valerie's house this afternoon - Lizzie and Maggie are with their dad this weekend - and picked out 24 eggs to bring home. 24 is more than what I was planning to incubate, but at this point I'm assuming that they aren't all going to hatch.
I've also deviated from my original plan to get all Buff Orpingtons. My concern with this is that now all of our chickens aren't going to look alike. And this could pose a problem with being able to pick out "favorites". The last thing on earth I need is to have two little girls with teary eyes when they've fallen in love with a rooster who is slated for butcher. I'm going to have a hard enough time with this aspect of homesteading. I certainly don't need any help from them!
But, we'll get through it. And I hope to not scar them too badly. I'm still scarred myself from a pig incident that happened when I was 12. And I will never own a pig for food. Any pig I own will be strictly a pet. And yes, I'm serious. I do plan to one day have a pet pig as tribute to poor little Arnie. And yes, I'm aware that I'm going to be the worst homesteading farmer ever. HAHAHAHA

Let the adventures of BBV Farms begin!