ayeager5064
Hatching
- Jun 21, 2016
- 1
- 0
- 7
Wasn't sure what forum to post this under but I figured this would be the best one.
okay, so 20 days ago, my boyfriend and I went to pick up his jet ski from a boat yard that had kept it there all winter. When we went to remove the jet ski from the parking spot, we noticed a bird's nest build inside the motor, very close to the propeller. We had to remove the nest in order to start the jet ski so as to not hurt the eggs that we saw inside it. We wanted to leave the nest on
the ground (near where we had found it) but the yard owner said he needed the space for other boats so we had to find somewhere else to put nest. I was very upset because it was extremely hot outside and I felt like without the cover of being inside the motor, the
eggs would fry before their mother could find them (if she could find them at all in their new location, that is). I was torn between not wanting to take them away from their mother and leaving them in a new spot, hoping she would find them. I decided that I simply couldn't leave them. Odds were that the mother wouldn't find them in a new location and they would die anyway so it couldn't
hurt to take them home and try to give them a shot at life, myself. I did some research, once home, and found out that they are Carolina Chickadee eggs. My boyfriend and I learned that since the mother was not sitting on them, their incubation process had not started yet. So we made a makeshift incubator out of a shoe box, a heating blanket, a cup of water, a heat lamp,
and some blankets. We didn't put the eggs in until we had the thermometer reading at a constant temperature between 98 and 102. We began the process at exactly 12 that night and I began rotated the eggs every 6 hours. After a week I decided to candle the eggs using a flashlight. I saw nothing. 2 days later (Day 9) I candled them again and was convinced there was nothing in any
of them and that I had failed BUT I would keep turning them until 20 days was up (I read that they could hatched after 12 to 16 days but I decided to keep the eggs for 20 just in case). Then on day 10, I candled them again and my boyfriend and I noticed that while the yolks moved quite a bit in all the other eggs, one of the eggs had a yolk that stayed still and a dark shadow on it. We couldn't see any veins because of the dark speckles on the egg but the next morning (Day 11) it seemed as if the shadow had gotten bigger. I was now convinced that one of the eggs had something in it but was trying not to get my hopes up too much. Days have gone by and I candle the egg once a day. The dark spot has without a doubt gotten bigger but it looks nothing like the pictures I've seen of chicken eggs being candled (I'm guessing that is because of them being two completely different birds). My question is, at what point do I deem the baby bird dead? My research has told me that it should only take about 13 days on average for Carolina Chickadees to hatch but we are going on day 20 and there is not even an attempt at pipping. Every once in a while I think I see it moving but I'm not sure if that's not just wishful thinking. Please only helpful advice in the comments. I understand how some may feel about people hatching wild birds but this was a decision I made and I do not regret it, even if the egg does not hatch. Let me know what advice you would give me in regards to what I should look for exactly when candling the egg, when I should assume the bird is not alive, why it is growing so slowly, etc ect. Please and Thank you!
Alecz
okay, so 20 days ago, my boyfriend and I went to pick up his jet ski from a boat yard that had kept it there all winter. When we went to remove the jet ski from the parking spot, we noticed a bird's nest build inside the motor, very close to the propeller. We had to remove the nest in order to start the jet ski so as to not hurt the eggs that we saw inside it. We wanted to leave the nest on
the ground (near where we had found it) but the yard owner said he needed the space for other boats so we had to find somewhere else to put nest. I was very upset because it was extremely hot outside and I felt like without the cover of being inside the motor, the
eggs would fry before their mother could find them (if she could find them at all in their new location, that is). I was torn between not wanting to take them away from their mother and leaving them in a new spot, hoping she would find them. I decided that I simply couldn't leave them. Odds were that the mother wouldn't find them in a new location and they would die anyway so it couldn't
hurt to take them home and try to give them a shot at life, myself. I did some research, once home, and found out that they are Carolina Chickadee eggs. My boyfriend and I learned that since the mother was not sitting on them, their incubation process had not started yet. So we made a makeshift incubator out of a shoe box, a heating blanket, a cup of water, a heat lamp,
and some blankets. We didn't put the eggs in until we had the thermometer reading at a constant temperature between 98 and 102. We began the process at exactly 12 that night and I began rotated the eggs every 6 hours. After a week I decided to candle the eggs using a flashlight. I saw nothing. 2 days later (Day 9) I candled them again and was convinced there was nothing in any
of them and that I had failed BUT I would keep turning them until 20 days was up (I read that they could hatched after 12 to 16 days but I decided to keep the eggs for 20 just in case). Then on day 10, I candled them again and my boyfriend and I noticed that while the yolks moved quite a bit in all the other eggs, one of the eggs had a yolk that stayed still and a dark shadow on it. We couldn't see any veins because of the dark speckles on the egg but the next morning (Day 11) it seemed as if the shadow had gotten bigger. I was now convinced that one of the eggs had something in it but was trying not to get my hopes up too much. Days have gone by and I candle the egg once a day. The dark spot has without a doubt gotten bigger but it looks nothing like the pictures I've seen of chicken eggs being candled (I'm guessing that is because of them being two completely different birds). My question is, at what point do I deem the baby bird dead? My research has told me that it should only take about 13 days on average for Carolina Chickadees to hatch but we are going on day 20 and there is not even an attempt at pipping. Every once in a while I think I see it moving but I'm not sure if that's not just wishful thinking. Please only helpful advice in the comments. I understand how some may feel about people hatching wild birds but this was a decision I made and I do not regret it, even if the egg does not hatch. Let me know what advice you would give me in regards to what I should look for exactly when candling the egg, when I should assume the bird is not alive, why it is growing so slowly, etc ect. Please and Thank you!
Alecz
