Good new on the eggs that I thought I had cooked in the incubator.
A friend came over today and candled the the eggs for me.
Candling is a method used to see inside the egg. You can buy a candler, or use a flash light, by placing the flash light against the egg in a dark room you can see the embryo moving inside the shell. I had not seen it done before and got the biggest kick out of seeing the tiny embryo trying to move away from the light.
The guinea fowl eggs that were put in first are alive and well.
It is still a bit early to know if the eggs that I put in on Sunday survived the fluctuating temperature. Now I know how to test them I will do it myself in a few days.

Saturday April 19th we woke up to snow! A lot of snow.
Our power went off and my first thought was for the eggs in the incubator and the chicks out side still needing the heat lamp.
I brought the chick in to the house and covered them with newspaper to help keep the heat in them.
Rob said he had to go to work in spite of the weather and said he would take the incubator with him and plug it in at work. We wrapped it in blankets and he put the heat on in his van.
Because our power was off for 12 hours he decided the incubator was best left at work until the next day.
The roads were clear on Sunday and I went to a farm auction in the morning. Although tempted by some of the things that I saw I didn't bid on or buy anything.
I stopped at a friends on the way home and picked up 2 doz Black Australorp eggs to put in the incubator. I also had 12 more Guinea fowl eggs to add to the 5 already in there.
We got the incubator home and plugged it in. I added the new eggs even though the heat wasn't up to the correct temperature yet. It was just over 80 degrees and I knew it would reach the required 99.5 in no time.
I kept checking it and the temp didn't move. I turned the thermostat up a little but still no change. I turned it a little more and the waffle fell off inside the incubator lid!
Rob and I both tried to fix it, no luck.
A friend suggested using a heating pad. I put the pad over the eggs and put the lid back on the incubator.
Next time I checked the temp had risen to 120!
After fiddling a bit more and leaving the lid slightly open the temp is steady at just over 100.
I would think the eggs are totally shot after all that but I can't bring my self to chuck them. It will be nothing less than a miracle if anything hatches but I will leave then until their hatching date just to be sure. After all, I do believe in miracles.

A neighbor dropped by the other day with 5 fresh Guinea Fowl eggs. I have put them in the incubator and it will take 28 day to see if I get any keets. Keets are what baby Guinea fowl are called.

I have decided that I want to raise only heritage breed chickens.
I will be getting some Black Australorp eggs from a friend this weekend that I will incubate.
If all goes well I should have some point of lay chicks for sale for next spring.

One of our two peacocks was hit and killed on the road recently. It was the male, his mate Sweet pea, was calling and calling for him for a few day after he was hit. It was very sad to hear her call for him knowing he wasn't around to answer her.

The darn raccoon is still prowling around. I keep the live trap set at all times but raccoons are very smart.
I think it was close to getting caught in the trap because two morning in a row the trap had been tipped over and dragged from its location. It now seems to be avoiding the trap as if its knows what it is.
I need to get creative and set it up so that the coon goes in and is trapped before it realizes it is entering a cage.
I did find Billy Boy caught in the trap the other day though!

Hi to Peggy. Thanks for checking out my blog and leaving a comment.

I had surgery 4 days ago to have my gall bladder removed.
I was only in hospital for a day! I am doing well and I can't believe how things have changed since I last had surgery, some 20 years ago.

I haven't been able to go out and see to my critters yet. I miss them.
Looking out the window as Rob tends to them just isn't the same as being out there my self. I am still tender in the area of the surgery and would hate to be bumped or jumped up on.

I sold Jolene, my Angora/pygmy cross goat to a friend. She picked her up yesterday.
I missed looking out and seeing her on the roof of the goat house this morning. I know she has gone to a great home but she was our first ever kid born here and it was hard to let her go.

Recovering from gall bladder surgery. Hope to be back blogging soon