It all began when I plucked some big ol' eggs from the nests for several days in a row sometime in October. I candled them and was able to see two yolks in each one. These eggs just seemed so special and we had so many of them that I decided to set three of them in my homemade incubator. After hearing so many people say that they had tried and failed at double yolkers, I was a little skeptical, but I was scientifically interested in how it might turn out (and I decided that these chicks deserved a chance just like any others)!
At day 17 I candled them again and one had stopped developing early so I disposed of it. The other two seemed very full. Indeed they were full!
On November 9th I candled them again and could see that one egg had pipped internally into the air cell in the large end. The next night (Nov. 10) was day 20 and 19 for my eggs and I heard peeping from the one on day 20!! There was no pip yet and I was afraid to start helping without it at least pipping on it's own. The next day there was a pip on the small end of the egg! That pretty much confirmed for me that there were two live chicks in that egg. I consulted my friends on BYC, because I really wanted this hatch to be successful. From then on I think I was on pins and needles (along with many other BYC'ers) until it was all over.
I held off on the intervention until Nov 11th, day 21 for my first egg to hatch. In the morning when I got up it was not pipped, so I still couldn't bring myself to "help". I had to go to work and that was probably a life saver...I didn't have to sit and wait for something to happen. When I came home for lunch break there was a PIP on the small end of the egg!!!! My heart raced and my hands started shaking and I had to make a quick decision. Since there was one in both ends and the one in the large end had pipped internally the day before but not pipped externally, I was afraid it was getting low on oxygen. I couldn't leave to go back to work without at least pipping it on the large end so it could breathe. I pipped it on the large end and placed a moist paper towel around the opening to keep the exposed membrane moist.
