Hey, You're Early!

So I got home this afternoon from a trip and went to check on the eggs in the incubator...no sweat, we have three days to go, the eggs just went into lockdown this morning, all is well...

Then I saw it.

Two tiny eggshell shards in the bottom of the incubator.  From egg #16.

Switch on the two dollar cuss words!  And wouldn't you know it, the egg that is pipping ridiculously early is a bantam egg (let's all try and act surprised), the one laid by Toaster, a bantam Cochin hen who hatched last year.

And just to make things interesting, the chicks is pipping at the wrong end of the egg!

What a stinker.  Now I get to sit up and worry tonight.

And, I hear you ask, is the brooder box ready...?

OF COURSE NOT.  I had planned to build the thing this afternoon because I still had THREE FREAKIN' DAYS UNTIL HATCH.  Lots of time!

So I sat and whacked together a brooder box in short order.  Not my prettiest job, but hey, it's done ahead of the chick hatching!

Meanwhile, here's what well-behaved chicks who are rocking in their eggs and peeping sweetly look like.

Now we wait to see what happens...if more eggs begin to pip early, we'll move Yoya in tonight and slip some eggs under her.  If not, we'll stick with the original plan and bring Yo in tomorrow night!

So the start of Chickam is kinda up in the air while Mother Nature has her little joke.  When eggs begin unzipping, we'll start the cam!