Recent content by Cerise1924

One more question, please! It's Day 30, and there are two eggs still in the incubator. No rocking, no peeping, no pips. Should I do a water-candling test? Just leave them? For how long? Thanks for any advice you can offer!

Update: we have 11 happy, healthy little ducklings running around. It was very hot outside yesterday, so they got a field trip to the orchard. They are so much easier to manage than chicks! They stick together in a flock and stay close to their humans, instead of scattering under the shrubbery...

Thank you, @EverythingDucks ! This looks great. I'll see if I can find and old pan. The little ones just started eating and drinking, and they do get very excited and make a big mess. This kind of set-up should help.

Thank you, @Miss Lydia ! They are adorable, and seem much more curious and intelligent than chicks.

Three little ducklings are out! The two noisy, chattering ones are light, and the quiet (but still healthy) one is so much heavier! Does this mean the noisy ones are girls? :gig I have the big kiddie pool brooder mostly set up. I found a wire basket to turn upside down for a water table, but...

This is fabulous, @DuckyDonna ! It's good to have ideas for the ducks' needs, as they grow. It's Day 27, and I can hear peeping!!! :D

Thank you so much, @DuckyDonna ! The pictures are wonderful. Your ducklings are adorable:love I was exactly planning on a kiddie pool brooder with cardboard siding! That worked for me pretty well when I had a larger number of chicks to brood in the house. The feeder you show looks like what...

Thank you so much, SamuelMcF! I really appreciate your well-informed and detailed reply. It's very reassuring. I'm glad to know in advance to just be extra patient with duck eggs, and to just let them be in the incubator for a good long while. Also good to know that I have a little time to get...

Good morning! I usually hatch chicks in the spring, either in incubators or with a broody, but this year I am trying to hatch duck eggs for the first time. We had ducks when I was a child, so I have some memories of caring for them, but have never hatched any before. I received 15 Mallard eggs...

Well, this hatch is all done. I got three beautiful healthy chicks from the nine eggs that I rescued from under an Orpington hen who was a good sitter and a murderous mother. I feel it's successful, because I only paid for five eggs from Papa's Poultry- the rest were generous extras. And I...

Lol! I don't know how long you are going to keep them before you rehome them, but my little pea baby started getting a crest at about one month.

Oh, they are gorgeous! Hope you get your Blue Pied, too. Now you are making me want to hatch peachicks, again. I think this is some kind of advanced chicken math. :gig

Aww, lovely!! :loveThe very first chick I ever tried to incubate was a peachick. She was a cute little Spalding. I love peafowl! Congratulations!!! :thumbsup

Well, here's an update - with some good news! -None of them smelled bad. -I candled them all, and the three light colored eggs clearly had no real development. Probably early quitters. Throwing them out. -Of the remaining three, two (an Olive Egger and a Marans) had definite wiggle action when I...

@Mixed flock enthusiast Oh, my! Keets popping out like popcorn! Congratulations on all your new babies - so exciting!! :)