An Egg with Warts

Eggs lose about 15% of their weight before hatching. True story. And because I can be a bit obsessive and nerdlike, I decided to monitor their weight to ensure steady weight loss. In my situation, every three days each egg should lose about a gram.

We're now on the 4th day (1/5 of the way there!), so it's a great day to check on their progress. I pulled the lid of the incubator and weighed each one. One of the eggs had a really bizarre exterior. It didn't smell. The bumps were clear and hard. So I posted it on the Backyard Chicken Forum, and the vote was an unanimous "Throw it OUT!" So now we're down to 13 eggs.

Apparently if you try to incubate a bad egg the insides will leak out of the shell. That's what you're seeing in the picture. In the worse case scenario, it can explode, causing the other eggs in the incubator to go bad. So this egg has met its fate, and is now bagged up and thrown out.

In other chicken news, we started on our coop! I've finally looked my fear in the eyes and bought myself a miter saw. I have been scared of radial saws since the beginning of time. But now that I have one and have used it, I can't help but be in complete awe by how incredible of a tool it really is. What a time saver! I had most of the 2x4s necessary measured and cut out within an hour.

It's worth noting that my husband's car can haul at least 10 2x4's!