Terrible luck with eggs this year- one in the bator now! Question....

jellybean

Songster
10 Years
May 1, 2009
118
0
119
Bellevue, ID
Had a full nest of goose eggs doing well-I had just candled a few. In the past I've raised lots of ducks and they always push out the bad eggs. I didn't think I needed to candle and remove them from the geese either. Two babies hatched, and I found them dead. The other sitting goose had killed them. She also broke some of the duck's eggs. So she got kicked out of the pen and the duck took several of her eggs.

The remaining goose had a rotten egg break, I wiped off the egg it broke onto. Then another broke and I did the same. I know the rest of the eggs were alive. But it's been about 6 days, they should have hatched by now. I'm pretty sure they're all dead though I'm afraid to bring them in the house to candle in case they break.

I was worried about the duck eggs getting crushed by the goose eggs, but they had seemed fine for over a week. Last night one as cracked and had died. The other looked good. This morning I checked it again as I was really worried. There were hairline fractures on the small end. Arrgg! But I'm pretty sure I saw the baby move once. So I put wax over the cracks and put it in the bator. The air cell is about 1/4 of the egg or a little more. It's very dark, with my puny light I can't see much in there. I'm hoping I can save it (if it's even still alive!) as it's my last duck egg. I don't know what day it's on. Should I mist it maybe? The duck was out swimming when I took it.

I also have several duck eggs arriving this week to incubate. Not sure how I'll make that work. The duck seems to be very diligent, I guess I could always give her the eggs till this one either hatches or dies. I'll take all her goose eggs as none seem fertile. I just see a yolk and small air cell, and they're over two weeks. I'll check again, but I don't think any are developing from the crazy goose's eggs. I didn't write down the date they started sitting, I forgot and now I'm regretting it as I don't know exactly where they are.

What should I get the humidity at? I'm in Idaho, so it's pretty dry here, and in the 80's currently in temp. Would 40% be about right? And raising it if the baby pips?
 
Last edited:
I candled the egg and it's alive! I can't see anything through the small end, it's very dark. I can see a few veins near the air cell, and the baby was squirming around in there. I'm so happy! Now if I can hatch it successfully.... The air cell is about 1/4 of the egg, but to me it looks pretty close to hatching. Any ideas on what day I might be on? Bator is holding at about 50-55% humidity. Is that too high?
 
Last edited:

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom