Call Duck Eggs: Artifical Versus Natural Incubation

[duckluck]

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Well, if I figure correctly... your hatch day would be today/tomorrow. If you sat them on the morning of the 6th.... they should hatch today or tomorrow. Call ducks can also hatch on the 27th day. You've still got another 36 hours or so before I would get discouraged. Keep us posted. Do you hear in peeping yet?

No peeping, and I made the room dark last night and I took a flashlight and I shined it in the top, through the cover. All I saw was aircells, no internal pip. Still fingers crossed and hopeing for the best.

The Brinsea high-intensity Egg Lume is great for seeing when those sneaky little bills pop that membrane. It really helps to throw a shadow you can see too when they sneak in at the center of the air cell where you can't see them. I really balked at the price too, but somebody sold me on buying one and now I wouldn't be without it. I had just about every LED flashlight I could want to have and they didn't do the job this halogen light does, and the shroud keeps the egg relatively safe from the heat it emits. Every now and again, Brinsea does a web special on them.

 

[Scott]

Quote:
No peeping, and I made the room dark last night and I took a flashlight and I shined it in the top, through the cover. All I saw was aircells, no internal pip. Still fingers crossed and hopeing for the best.

The Brinsea high-intensity Egg Lume is great for seeing when those sneaky little bills pop that membrane. It really helps to throw a shadow you can see too when they sneak in at the center of the air cell where you can't see them. I really balked at the price too, but somebody sold me on buying one and now I wouldn't be without it. I had just about every LED flashlight I could want to have and they didn't do the job this halogen light does, and the shroud keeps the egg relatively safe from the heat it emits. Every now and again, Brinsea does a web special on them.

The Brinsea OvaScope is a good candler as well. I've been impressed with it.

 

[PrinceSandwich]

I have a small bantam hen sitting on some of my call eggs

She a small hen and she siting on 11 eggs, is that to many to get a good hatch rate? I candled one today and it was viening

so hopfully I'll get a good hatch

 

[Feathered Wings]

Haven't caught up with the new post here but my White Call hen is setting again I will candle sometime this weekend.
My greys are being persnickety and are refusing to set and are laying erratically I don't know whats up with that. Could it be because they are line bred? Are Show calls more likely to have genetic problems than a nonrelated pair of ducks?
I know bad genetics if rebred back can show up in the young and the line continues all young from subsequent hatchings carry that same problems. I discovered this with my OEGBs found some weren't worth breeding and hatching due to such a prolonged line of inbreeding some of the chicks couldn't even get out of the shell. I don't perpetuate the nonhatching gene at all if I have a Pair that produces eggs that can't get out of the shell I don't breed them again as I don't want future instances of non hatchers. I have good strong nonrelated lines I only have one inbred line it's a very good Lemon Blue line I have been slowly moving it into a nonrelated one.

I had been thinking of getting some from another show breeder and seeing if a nonrelated pair of Calls would produce better.
Scott are you misting your eggs? I'm getting a new incu will be in next week and I wasn't going to mist mine I didn't with the others I hatched.

 

[Scott]

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No, I didnt mist them. This evening will be 26 days. As of this morning, I've already got two pipping.

 

[Scott]

Alright, I need some advice from someone who has more experience with call ducks than me. By yesterday morning, most of the call duck eggs had pipped. But they seem to have made very little progress since then. Its now 1pm... any advice. At 8pm tonight... it will be 27 days. Should I give them more time?

 

[vlapinta]

Anything??

Vicki

 

[CityChicker]

I hate to tell you one thing and have it not work out for you since you are hatching such a small number. Here though, we generally do not help them out (although I know a lot of Call breeders do, as do people hatching fewer eggs). In our ducks, I have seen it very often take 48+ hours from pip to hatch. On occasion, we have had them take 72+ hours. I hate to tell you to not assist and then have that not work for you, but I do not even think about assisting until they have been pipped at least 48 hours and usually only if I know a definite reason why there is a problem with the hatch. If everything has gone fine and your humidity is high enough for hatch, I would be inclined to wait it out awhile. You could always try carefully helping one to see what is going on or maybe even trying the thing that some Call breeders do with drilling a hole in the egg. What you are comfortable with trying is up to you, but I always err on the side of letting nature take its course.

 

[Luvducks]

I am NO expert and it is a hard call (Pun intended) I had to help my call ducks last year. The ones I did not help did not make it. Just today I had to help a Silkie get its head out. Everything is perfectly fine until the very last step of getting out of the egg. It is so dry here so it is work keeping my humidity steady. Last year humidity was to high and chicks drowned.

Just be SURE they are not resting and are ready to come out. My Calls and this silkie today had absorbed ALL yolk and blood vessels were dried up. Peel the tiniest piece of shell away and wait 2 hours at least to peel some more. It IS a learning process but I am finally getting the hang of what I need to do after reading so much advice on BYC. Each individual has such different variables.

My chicks are hatching fine under a broody Silkie but I have yet to hatch a Call duckling from under this same hen. (They are developing) I am sending you the best of hatching vibes and will be waiting to read your SUCCESS Story!

Linda

 

[BeckyBird]

I would intervene. I have helped most of my call ducks hatch, because it broke my heart when my first egg died. There was a peeping, wiggling baby in there, and it never pipped. Internally it did, but it never broke through the outer shell. Since then, I always help. The ones I have helped do not seem to be affected at all (unlike chicks, which I do not usually help.)

It sounds like your ducks have pipped through the outer shell, which means they are getting oxygen. That's good. If you do have to help, go slowly around the shell--"zip" like the chick would do. Once you've gotten the top shell off, you can look in there and see if the yolk has absorbed. If it is not absorbed, I usually tape the top shell back on, and wait a few hours. Also, you can moisten the membranes at this point.

Once the yolk has absorbed, then leave the top shell off, and wait for the baby to wiggle out on his own. Give him a few hours. You can also give him a very tiny drop of water on his bill to drink, if he's been pipped for over a day. I do that because in the wild, the duckling would have probably been out and drinking by then, not stuck in his shell for longer than usual.