Exploding Eggs and Disappearing Dogs

The end of May is miserable in Central Florida.  The afternoon rains have not yet begun, and it is usually in the mid 90's in the afternoon.  The dogs and chickens are panting to stay cool, but today was an unusual day.

This afternoon there was a loud crack, like a gunshot, in the backyard.  The dogs started barking, and the goose ran screaming from her nest.  One of her eggs had gone bad and had exploded under her.

I have not candled her eggs; however, she has been discarding the bad ones, but apparently she missed one.  Of the 15 eggs she started with, there are only 5 left, and I think one of those is not developing properly.  If all goes well, there should be goslings in a little over a week.

Another surprise was the disappearing dog.  Grace is a big dog, over 60 pounds, but when I went to check on her in the kennel, she had vanished.  As I stood there, out popped a head.  She had dug a cool-down hole big enough for her entire body in just a couple of hours.  Can you find the dog?

The other big news is that H.I.M. the hen has gone broody.  A friend gave me 10 Ameraucana eggs, and she has been doing a good job keeping them warm, although I think they would hatch if I just left them out in the sun right now.

The Delaware cockerels are starting to show.  So far there are definitely 2 cockerels.  There may be more, as they were hatched over a week, and some are not as developed.  This fellow is definitely a cockerel.  He is much more obvious than the cockerels were last year at 6 weeks.