Incubation progress of Muscovy eggs

[charlindabob]

Day 30 on these Muscovy eggs.........woohoo!

Turned, misted and cooled. Ran the light over them and some moved, some didn't, but they all look relatively the same inside except for the dead duck. That would be Number Two egg that was tossed.

I bet it's cost $35 dollars or more to run the GQF for these eggs, and my time at a dollar an hour would add up a good bit. It would be cheaper, much cheaper to buy ducklings at $10 a piece than to incubate the eggs! But then I couldn't pinion them at day olds and I need to do that.

Temps & humidity are running about the same and it would be redundant to post it here anymore unless there was a significant change.

Dianne88, if your reading this, do you think it would be beneficial to drill a small 1/8" hole in the blunt end of the egg once there is an internal pip? I think we talked about this, and my "due date" is drawing closer. Just to give the hatchling more oxygen once they have pipped internally. A hole that size would give adequate oxygen and I don't think it would be big enough to dry out the membranes, etc.

Anybody is welcome to comment on the above thought....

 

[Miss Lydia]

Day 30 on these Muscovy eggs.........woohoo!

Turned, misted and cooled. Ran the light over them and some moved, some didn't, but they all look relatively the same inside except for the dead duck. That would be Number Two egg that was tossed.

I bet it's cost $35 dollars or more to run the GQF for these eggs, and my time at a dollar an hour would add up a good bit. It would be cheaper, much cheaper to buy ducklings at $10 a piece than to incubate the eggs! But then I couldn't pinion them at day olds and I need to do that.

Temps & humidity are running about the same and it would be redundant to post it here anymore unless there was a significant change.

Sometimes when you don't see movement just means they are asleep so hopefully that's one reason why. and not many days left now. I know you'll be excited to see that first internal pip.

 

[charlindabob]

Sometimes when you don't see movement just means they are asleep so hopefully that's one reason why. and not many days left now. I know you'll be excited to see that first internal pip.

I hope you're right young lady. I'd like to enter lock down with more than 6 or 7 live eggs. Keep your fingers AND toes crossed for me.

 

[Dianne88]

Day 30 on these Muscovy eggs.........woohoo! Turned, misted and cooled. Ran the light over them and some moved, some didn't, but they all look relatively the same inside except for the dead duck. That would be Number Two egg that was tossed. I bet it's cost $35 dollars or more to run the GQF for these eggs, and my time at a dollar an hour would add up a good bit. It would be cheaper, much cheaper to buy ducklings at $10 a piece than to incubate the eggs! But then I couldn't pinion them at day olds and I need to do that. Temps & humidity are running about the same and it would be redundant to post it here anymore unless there was a significant change. Dianne88, if your reading this, do you think it would be beneficial to drill a small 1/8" hole in the blunt end of the egg once there is an internal pip? I think we talked about this, and my "due date" is drawing closer. Just to give the hatchling more oxygen once they have pipped internally. A hole that size would give adequate oxygen and I don't think it would be big enough to dry out the membranes, etc. Anybody is welcome to comment on the above thought....

I didn't do it until day 37 and the chick had been piped for around 12 hrs (surprised he survived) the other 3 never piped I think If you've gotten to that point the chick may not survive if you don't help! Hope it doesn't come to that and your little guys are strong enough to do it themselves. My second batch of eggs go in to lockdown on the 18, I've been more careful with the humidity this last week hoping for a better results!

 

[charlindabob]

Day 31.....LOOKOUT, HERE THEY COME !

My son turns 13 tomorrow and we just came back from a day long birthday party and first thing I did was to go to the shop and check my eggs.

SURPRISE........SURPRISE.........SURPRISE

I pulled them out to turn, mist and cool and what's this? A couple of them had external pips! I grabbed my candle light and started checking.....11 of the remaining 13 have INTERNAL pips! They all were still in the automatic turner too. I removed all except #5 & #7 which did not show an internal pip, removed all the silica gel and filled the top water container with water.

I made sure that the "dip" in the air sac was at the top of the egg and placed 11 eggs in the hatching tray and reduced the temperature by one degree. Now I am wondering if I should use my Dremel and drill a 1/8th inch hole in the air sac being careful not to hit the hatchling inside? I'm this close to hatching (they are early!) and I don't want any to die from lack of oxygen as so many do at this stage. The most critical stage is at hand and it caught me off guard. I was going to check and remove them to the hatching tray tomorrow (day 32), but these guys are really early birds, pun intended. Lots of carbon dioxide and lack of oxygen is the number one killer of hatching eggs as I understand it.

To drill or not to drill..................I think I'll drill later tonight.

Something else too.....I'm not too sure I buy into this "lock down" idea either. Why shut the incubator up and leave it alone without checking once in awhile? How does that benefit the hatching eggs? Hmmmmm

 

[Dianne88]

That's Great!! Keep us updated, let me know if you decided to drill a hole. Can't wait to see pics!

 

[charlindabob]

I have no idea when these internally pipped as I was gone most of the day and I will sleep about 6 hours or so tonight (maybe), so I have no idea how long ago they internally pipped.

Now how long can they survive and breathe once they have internally pipped is the BIG question for me. I don't know.....twelve hours? Longer? Will they suffocate in the shell by morning? The critical time is at hand and waits for no-one.

So I drilled.

 

[Dianne88]

Better safe than sorry! Maybe you'll have little ones in the morning!

 

[charlindabob]

Better safe than sorry! Maybe you'll have little ones in the morning!

I hope I did the right thing. Time will tell. Nothing has happened as of 0115, and I'm beat and going to bed. I'd sure like to see 11 little yellow ducklings in the morning.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I hope I did the right thing. Time will tell. Nothing has happened as of 0115, and I'm beat and going to bed. I'd sure like to see 11 little yellow ducklings in the morning.

Well have you seen them yet???