Friday, August 28, 2009

I got a new 9-bulb LED miniflashlight and wanted to take pics of the candling. I candled each and every egg....it looks like there are about 8 or 9 sterile (infertile) eggs out of the batch of 22. The eggs growing babies are generally much darker than the sterile. Here's the only decent pic of a peep I could get. It's the shadow circled...some eggs don't even show peeps because there are too many speckles in the way. LOL! This one was bouncing all over the place!



Here is an infertile/sterile egg. People were right.......they GLOW!!!


Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Holding steady at 38.5c and 45% humidity. PERFECT!!!



However....Ack! I had a temperature spike last night! My husband slept in the basement last night and that's why. My incubator is incredibly sensitive to ambient temperature....I have it in the most temperature-stable room in the house. A basement room with no windows and no vents. It is, however, affected by the temperature of the family room, right next to it.

So, with DH snoring away and creating the Sleep Inferno, as I call his internal furnace, the temp went up slightly on the eggs. It went up to 104f...which is high. But not quite as high as 105f...which can cook the eggs. Hopefully nothing comes of it...but it we don't get a hatch, this is what I'm blaming. So, DH can't sleep in the basement anymore. LOL.

Today is Day 5. Only 12 more to go.
On Sunday we had PLANS! Hubby and I dropped the kids off down the road at his parent's house for the day and off we went! We drove over to the next town because we'd heard they had a Farmers Market and they did!!! Here is hubby posing for the picture.



Lots of great stuff...gladioli, potatos, zuccini, carrots, beets, peaches-n-cream corn, pickling cucs, green beans and yellow beans, giant spanish onions, ontario garlic, peaches, apples, plums...there were also fresh baked goods, handmade furniture, organic beef and poultry that are raised locally. What a goldmine!!! We bought beans, onions, carrots, corn, and a few all-natural meat pies for dinner. They were delish.


Then, on the way home, we passed another local orchard's marketplace. It was awesome inside too. Local honey, local maple syrup, local eggs, local cheeses, local breads, local ice cream and dairy. And all sorts of great produce too.



Finally, I got some mums for my porch. I would like to have grown the from seed or other crunchy thought, but I bought them from Canadian Tire. They are just beautiful. If I plant them in the garden now, do you think they will come again next year or do they not have time to root?

Saturday, August 22, 2009






We went to the local "zoo" yesterday. It's a short walk from the new house and it's adorably tiny and cute.

The best part was the free-ranging baby pygmy goats and all the chickens running around! Babygirl really loved the goats! They were so tiny and soft...and although they nibbled a bit, it was very cute nibbling!

This is a mutt rooster. :) He was very proud of himself.

This lady is a beautiful Cuckoo Maran...they lay really dark brown eggs that are prized for their colour.



Friday, August 21, 2009

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As of 3pm today, the quail eggies are in the incubator!!! 22 of them. :)



They will incubate for 16-18 days before about 60% of them hatch. Eggs just aren't as fertile this time of year.





My quail eggs arrived yesterday! They are so tiny and delicate and beautifully spotted.

I thought, for a few hours, that I wasn't going to get them! They were sent via 2-day delivery but without a signature requirement. This means that instead of being dropped at my door, they are dropped in the neighbourhood SuperBox for me to pick up with my key. Unfortunately, we just moved and my key doesn't arrive until Monday.

Canada Post head office said there was nothing they could do...and my eggs would be cooked by Monday! I called my town's small post office to see if there was anything they could do. They took my info and said they'd call me back.

A few hours later my personal postal carrier called me! I explained the nature of the package...and she understood completely! Thank goodness for small town life...they understand eggs. Within minutes she hand delivered them to my door. Thanks Sherry!

Opening the box...how many will be broken or chipped? Where are the eggs?


There they are! So carefully wrapped


28 in total...I ordered 24, hearing that quite a few of these delicate eggs would probably break before they arrived. But, she packed a few extra...and only 3 were broken! So I have 25 hatchable eggs!


The incubator is downstairs getting up to temperature now! The eggs sat in our cold storage overnight and are ready to go!

Thanks for letting me share!