I'm not clear on how much light is needed to candle an egg. Can someone name some product names or performance criteria for for lights they know work on brown eggs? I tried to candle the three eggs Bea was setting (is it "setting" or "sitting" ?), which was about 10 days into her set (sit). All were varying shades of brown but two (ironically the lightest colored) I could not see thru at all and one I could see partway into and I saw none of the fertility signs illustrated in some of the pictorial material I consulted. I brought them into the house while she was off the nest and used every light in the place, portable or not. Two eggs have hatched as of yesterday and she is still setting the last one, so I don't know which of the three hatched.
As to broody behavior. We were caught rather flat-footed by our hen, mostly out of ignorance of the signs. I have reviewed many things but wanted to confirm that her "feathering" the nest is one of them. She did this quite early.. at least a couple of weeks before she moved into the nest fulltime. A couple of days before we slapped our heads and said "duh!" she had started sleeping on the nest. Anyway, I had the impression that the feathering thing happened after they started setting the eggs, or shortly before.
As to broody behavior. We were caught rather flat-footed by our hen, mostly out of ignorance of the signs. I have reviewed many things but wanted to confirm that her "feathering" the nest is one of them. She did this quite early.. at least a couple of weeks before she moved into the nest fulltime. A couple of days before we slapped our heads and said "duh!" she had started sleeping on the nest. Anyway, I had the impression that the feathering thing happened after they started setting the eggs, or shortly before.
