excuse me I know nobody cares but I care! I just can’t believe it’s heart is beating.

One of my hens went broody. Was sitting on a nest of non fertilized eggs. I went in search for fertilized eggs, usually we just pick them up and put them in the fridge but I ended up finding an egg stash.

Kind of like a nest, but not actually.

One of the hens picked a spot to poop out an egg everyday and leave it there because our hens have never went broody, never wanted to be. It’s hard AF To find a good momma hen. This is why I’m so excited because I’ve always had to incubate eggs and I’m so happy a chicken has chose motherhood lol

So I candled every egg (basically an ultrasound. You put light to the egg and can see inside) and I see what looks like a 3 day old embryo. The rest were either underdeveloped (I don’t know how old they are either they could have started to develop and then quit before they developed a circulatory system or they might not even be fertile) or rotten. I literally found oozing rotten eggs.

If a fertile egg is left in the heat during the summer it will start to develop. The only

Momma this egg has had since it’s been laid is the sun. Usually they quit before they get to this point.

It was cold and rainy today and it had the weakest little heart beat, only beating every few seconds. so I rushed and put it under the hen. Left it alone for a while.

Within a few hours it has developed more blood vessels and has a larger stronger and faster heart beat.

It’s a Nemo, a little adopted Nemo. Momma hen is doing a good job keeping Nemo warm.

And get this too!

When I was little someone told me that hens and mother birds in general can sense the heart beats and movements within the eggs.

Earlier today when I was taking the non fertile eggs from her she just let me. Just now when I went to candle the Nemo egg, she was extremely defensive and bit me so hard I yelled. So I think she knows about Nemo and is serious about this momma business

I can’t believe that this little chicken embryo has survived 3 days by itself. I found it just before it started to quit. Now it has a whole momma to itself

And yes we have fertile eggs in the fridge, but they are less likely to start to develop after being in the fridge. I also don’t know what eggs are fertile in the fridge, there are a lot of eggs in there.

So that’s why they weren’t considered. I can always put a million in the incubator and see which ones are fertile after a few days. Come to think about it, I will probably try that. Stick them under momma when I discover a fertile egg.

Update: I checked the other eggs today. Some of the eggs are too dark to tell what’s going on in there, but Nemo is no longer alone. Another egg has an embryo with a visible heart beat today. I checked the egg stash today and 2 more eggs there there, freshly laid. I put them under momma hen