Incubating please help

[Lacrystol]

Would it be possible to isolate the hen sitting on the nest so that the others can't disturb her? If you were able to do that, I think I would return the eggs to her.

I would not return the eggs to her.

 

[Lacrystol]

She has made her nest in a planter that is difficult to fence in. We have thought about trying to fence her in so that the other couldn't bother her, but she picked a weird spot for her nest and it tricky to isolate her

I would let her start over, she sounds like a first time mommy and apparently they aren't good the first time around.. They get it the second time though

 

[JadeComputerGal]

She may reject them..

I agree with Lacrystol. It's fine to try that with very close supervision, but you'll likely be disappointed. Ducks don't know their own ducklings because the ducklings come from the eggs that duck laid. They know "their" babies because they communicate with them, and the babies communicate back, while the duck is setting on them. That's why ducks will accept ducklings from eggs of other ducks. You might say they know the "voices" of their own babies. You must not take your eyes off them for a few seconds if you put them in a brooder with her. She will likely attack them, and bad things can happen very quickly in that situation, especially if she's brooding "her own" little ones at the same time. She'll see the new ones as a threat to those.

 

[casie]

So I have made a second incuabtor so that I can adjust for hatching, I'm letting it get up to temp and am going to try canceling white my next turning anything to looks like they have dipped I will put in the incubator where I don't turn them is that right? I will keep my incubator at 101 and a humidity of 50 to 55 and my hatching incuabtor at 98 99 and a high humidity of like 65 to 70. Any subsections with this set up please let me know. She is a fist time mom, I had no plans of having babies until one day I worked a lot and didn't pick all the eggs and found that in 3 days my girls laird enough in one nest for her to start sitting on them. She is so sad with out the baby she hatched I wish I could give her her babies back, but I don't want them to die

 

[aa3655]

If you can fence her in I think that's your best bet.

 

[JadeComputerGal]

Temp is not ok, she has no fan, so it needs to be higher around 101-102.

Humidity needs to be around 50 -55 ONLY because she has no clue of the due dates of each egg and from what I understand there are many eggs in there with different due dates.

You're certainly a better one to give advice on this than I am. I've never tried this with only one incubator. I do a similar thing with eggs due on all different dates, but I shuffle them among incubators depending where they are in the incubation stage. I put them in one incubator as they're laid after I number them, then I move them to another incubator on day 23, which has a little lower temp and an RH of 68% until they hatch. Then I move them to a brooding incubator with a lower temp and humidity after they hatch while other eggs in incubator #2 are hatching. I think I could do this with only 2 incubators, but I'd find it tricky to do it with only one.

You go, girl

 

[JadeComputerGal]

If you can fence her in I think that's your best bet.

I just really can't agree with that. You can't force a duck to set on a nest, at least not in any way I've ever heard of. That might just result in making her angry or depressed. That's why a lot of us incubate, especially in cases we know the ducks to refuse to go broody or to not be reliable setters.

 

[JadeComputerGal]

So I have made a second incuabtor so that I can adjust for hatching, I'm letting it get up to temp and am going to try canceling white my next turning anything to looks like they have dipped I will put in the incubator where I don't turn them is that right? I will keep my incubator at 101 and a humidity of 50 to 55 and my hatching incuabtor at 98 99 and a high humidity of like 65 to 70. Any subsections with this set up please let me know. She is a fist time mom, I had no plans of having babies until one day I worked a lot and didn't pick all the eggs and found that in 3 days my girls laird enough in one nest for her to start sitting on them. She is so sad with out the baby she hatched I wish I could give her her babies back, but I don't want them to die

I'm almost afraid to give you too much advice on this one and hope Lacrystol will be around over whatever time this takes. I don't keep my primary incubator, meaning pre-lockdown, with RH that high. I keep that one at 45%. I keep my lockdown incubator at 68%. What's giving me pause about advice is the dipping part because it can vary so much, and I know what they should look like at each stage. I've had eggs even this year that I KNEW to be on day 23, yet some looked more like day 26, and some looked like day 18. You get the idea. I had one this year hatch on its own, no help, on day 24, just maybe 12 hours after I had put it in lockdown, and I had a few that didn't hatch until day 28 and still needed help doing it. It's unfortunately not an exact science and takes a lot of attention to make sure you don't lose any through your own mistakes. I can't remember how I even kept up with all of it when I was working outside the house part-time.

 

[Lacrystol]

So I have made a second incuabtor so that I can adjust for hatching, I'm letting it get up to temp and am going to try canceling white my next turning anything to looks like they have dipped I will put in the incubator where I don't turn them is that right? I will keep my incubator at 101 and a humidity of 50 to 55 and my hatching incuabtor at 98 99 and a high humidity of like 65 to 70. Any subsections with this set up please let me know. She is a fist time mom, I had no plans of having babies until one day I worked a lot and didn't pick all the eggs and found that in 3 days my girls laird enough in one nest for her to start sitting on them. She is so sad with out the baby she hatched I wish I could give her her babies back, but I don't want them to die

OK, the first bator, are you misting the eggs??


Second bator, if you don't have a fan, get that temp up to the same 101-102. Humidity at 60-65 use the second one as your lock down bator and yes, once those eggs dip, put them in and don't turn them.

 

[Lacrystol]

If you can fence her in I think that's your best bet.

With a baby, not going to work, she will likely attack it, then get upset because she's confined. Best to leave her a lone until she gets the hang of how to be a mommy..