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I just love hatching out chicks and ducklings. But you all probably know that by now. Hatching really is one of the great early joys of spring for me! A couple days ago I filled one of my incubators for the first time of the season. Tonight I got out my bright egg candler, and thought you might enjoy getting an extra-early look inside one of our developing chicken eggs. These are eggs from pure Icelandic landrace chickens, so the shells are very light colored, and it's especially easy to see development, which is so nice!
In this video, you can easily see a small network of red veins, as well as the tiny bean-shaped embryo. It's not easy to see at this stage, but that little teeny tiny heart just started beating today! Does this astound you as much as it does me? Keep in mind that this video is taken right at the end of what we call DAY 3 when we're talking about incubation. I set these eggs into the incubator 2 day and 22 hours before this video was taken.
Here's a super-fast rundown of what's been happening on DAY 3 inside the egg:
- The heart begins to beat
- The blood is now circulating
- The head, and beginning of a spinal column are taking shape
- The brain has begun to form
Now, please keep in mind that I'm not recommending you candle your eggs this early. It's definitely not necessary, and can be difficult to discern development at this stage, especially in darker-colored eggs. However, for educational purposes, I think it's nothing short of miraculous to watch the day-by-day development of a baby chick, and I'm excited to share it with you! Hope you enjoy our video journey through this little one's incubation and hatch.
Read Next: Candling Chicken Eggs: Day 4
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