I wanted to put someintersting information all in one post, so here it goes. First of all, I wanted to give an update on the egg that I tore when they were laid. After a little over 2 weeks into incubation, the egg looks great, and seems to have healedover, as it has absorbed some water, and is as full as the other eggs. I will give another update in about 3 weeks, when I candle the eggs.

The other part of the title, is an interesting question that has bugged me. Well I decided to dosomething about it this year. I will post the results of the "study" after the clutch hatches, but here is the overveiw of what I amdoing.

I talked about a theory with a buddy of mine last year regarding kinking in Caramels. His theory is that Caramels have week spines. alot of peopple have said over the years that if you incubate Caramel eggs a bit drier, they have less of a tendancy to kink. My buddies theory is that by incubating the eggs drier, the egg incubated partially dented throughout the entir incubation process, and therefore has less pressure inside the egg. Having less pressure in the egg puts less pressure on the spine, and therefore gives you a better chance at hatching a Caramel with no kinks.

AsI stated, this is just a theory, but I have been trying to find a way to put some numbers to it (mostly because I am a data guy, and love numbers). What I am doing this year is as follows. I weighed one of our eggs from Caramel to Het this year. I am weighing the egg every week, and noting the change in weight. After the egg hatches, I will we the hatchling, weigh the dried eggshell, weigh any remaining yolk, and weigh the fluid in the egg (in an attempt to obtain the specific gravity of the fluid). I will then back calculate in an attempt to determine what percent of water is absorbed and released throughout incubation. Hopefully this will appease my curiosity, until I can find some type of meter with a probe small enough to insertin an egg tomeasure the internal egg pressure.

I thought this was neat, and it may bore everyone else, but I thought I would post it in case anyone was interested.

I hope everyone is having as much fun this season as we are,