After the crazy poop fiasco a few days ago, I thought I should candle the eggs and see if any were still viable. When the broody hen was off the nest for her morning poop (thank heavens she is doing it outside now), I went outside with a some blankets, a flashlight and my phone to take photos. In the dark, you could clearly see which ones were forming and which were not. Out of the 12 eggs that the broody hen was sitting on, there was something developing in 10 of them. I'm not quite sure of the stage of development or if the chicks are still growing.
This is an egg with nothing developing inside it.
This is an egg with a chick growing inside. There is an air space at the bottom (bright yellow) and a larger dark part at the top with little veins and arteries forming. This will grow into a chick if the hen keeps sitting on the eggs.
These are the "cleaned" eggs in the nest. The ones with the checks have something in them, the ones with the x's do not.
Is 10/12 fertilized eggs in a brood good?