Chickies! (Part I)

We are embarking upon a grand journey to what may or may not end up being baby chickens. This will be a fraught enterprise, and thus I (ghostwriter to my mom's blog) am chronicling our adventures to pave the way for future explorers in the chickie-making process.

Step 1: Abscond with the desired quantity of eggs from a none-too-happy
broody hen. 

Step 2: Take eggs and place gently in a warmed incubator. In this case, our
incubator is a somewhat ancient looking metal contraption borrowed
from a nice next door neighbor. The trickiest part so far has been heating
the incubator sufficiently, using a nearly unreadable (to me, ghostwriter)
mercury thermometer, and then turning a screw until the desired
heat is achieved. I'm still skeptical we have actually reached the right
temperature. But we'll find out soon enough.

The eggs must be turned three times for the first week, requiring nice
little pencil x's on each egg, to keep track of what's been turned. We have
thus far successfully turned the eggs on schedule, thanks to a very
useful calendar that above-said ghostwriter created.

And, voila! The chickies-to-be are resting comfortably in a big metal
container thing.