Heart Of Yolk

Heart Of Yolk Heart Of Yolk is a homestead in Muskoka focused on coloured eggs, raising chickens and making artistic products by Rachael.

Coop refresh!
05/17/2026

Coop refresh!

I have a purebred Black Copper Maran rooster (teenager) for rehoming. Will be great for breeding.
05/09/2026

I have a purebred Black Copper Maran rooster (teenager) for rehoming. Will be great for breeding.

05/07/2026

Digging for worms.

05/06/2026

The chicks are growing!

05/02/2026

At Maple Fest for the day! Downtown Parry Sound. Come say hi!

WE WILL BE HERE AS A VENDOR! One of our ONLY markets of the season ☀️
04/28/2026

WE WILL BE HERE AS A VENDOR! One of our ONLY markets of the season ☀️

04/28/2026

Veronica enjoying some banana

The little chicks are growing.Pictured are the Black Copper Marans, Opal Legbar, Olive layer, and Appenzeller Spitzhauba...
04/14/2026

The little chicks are growing.
Pictured are the Black Copper Marans, Opal Legbar, Olive layer, and Appenzeller Spitzhauban!

04/14/2026

The female cardinal sitting on eggs in your hedge did something to her own body before she started incubating that nobody talks about.

She plucked the feathers from her chest.

Not all of them. A patch — a bare oval of skin on her breast and belly, hidden under the surrounding feathers. She pulled them out herself over a few days before the eggs arrived. The patch filled with blood vessels close to the surface, making the skin warm to the touch.

This is a brood patch. Most incubating songbirds have one.

Feathers insulate — that's their purpose. They trap air against the body to hold temperature. But insulation works both ways. A layer of feathers between her body and the eggs would block her heat from reaching the shells. The eggs need direct contact with warm skin to develop.

So she removes the barrier. She presses the bare patch directly against the eggshells and sits. For about two weeks, the warmth of her body passes through a window she opened in her own insulation.

The male doesn't have one. He doesn't incubate. He feeds her at the nest, defends the territory, and keeps his feathers. She's the one who stripped a piece of herself to warm what she built.

After the chicks hatch and fledge, the feathers grow back. By late summer the patch is invisible.

Nobody knows it was there — except the eggs that needed it 🌿

I will be here as a vendor! Its gonna be a fun filled day!
04/10/2026

I will be here as a vendor! Its gonna be a fun filled day!

Address

Parry Sound
Parry Sound, ON
P2A

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