Incubation progress of Muscovy eggs

[Miss Lydia]

Day 23 and counting........

No changes today, incubation temperatures are holding fairly steady. Turned, misted and cooled for about 15 minutes. You know the worst things about artificially incubating Muscovy eggs?......................You can't speed up the process and you can't take short cuts !

day 23 and no changes incubation and temps holding steady ... sounds good to me.

 

[charlindabob]

Day 24.......& problems.

Temps are about where they should be and humidity is running between 38 & 43 %. Not too bad.
@ 1300, hand turned, misted & cooled for about 15 minutes or so. Eggs are still in the automatic turner and are on their side with blunt end slightly raised.

Weighed #1 which should be at about 73 grams and it is at 72 grams,....ok I think.
Weighed #7 which should be at about 67 grams and it is at 63 grams.....not good.
Weighed #9 which should be at about 74 grams and it is at 70 grams.....not good.

The other 11 eggs I did not weigh as they were within reason at last weigh-in and I am not overly concerned at this time. Not too sure what's up with #'s 7 & 9 though. Both have lost too much and I've given them more misting and dampened cotton balls to help them gain or at least maintain their weight but it isn't working.

Weight loss is not a cut-and-dry type of exact science I think and maybe a couple of grams here and there might not be too detrimental, but I was trying to be on-the-money but failed with these two eggs. Another ten days or so will tell the tale though.

Next weigh-in will be on day 29.

I'm about ready to build an Ark. We've had rain most every day for a month!

 

[charlindabob]

Day 25.....good news and bad news

OK, the bad news first: I gave all the eggs a good candling today and number two egg is dead. The air sac seems to be in place, but there is clear liquid around the air sac which moves around as I rotate the egg. Not good. No movement, but no odor from the egg.....yet. I didn't toss it, but will keep a close eye on it....
~~~~Also, Gracie's two eggs are clear. If they are clear on my next weigh-in day for the Muscovy eggs, I will wash and blow the contents out of these two eggs. I will have four more to put in the incubator by then and if they show clear, then I will blow the contents out of those and any future eggs she lays during this laying period she is having.

Now the good news: ALL the other 13 eggs showed movement inside even 7 & 9 the two problem eggs.

I'm just a little bummed out about egg #2. Disappointed I guess as I was hoping for a 100% hatch which is about like winning the lottery, especially with this impossible to deal with humidity here in Florida, my inexperience at incubating and hatching duck eggs and them being shipped eggs although all showed fertility and growth in the 'bator.

A hundred things could go wrong in the next 10-15 days. All I can do is continue as I'm doing and hope for the best. Like I said earlier, Incubation is easy, it's the hatching that's hard.....and the hard part's ahead of me yet.

 

[Dianne88]

Now I can follow your progress

 

[charlindabob]

Day 26 and time to build an Ark!

We have had non-stop rain showers today and rain just about every day now for years, well, it seems like years.

If I used my GQF more extensively, I would build a little room in my shop and install a dehumidifier. My incubator humidity is running top shelf to bottom 42%, 43% & 43% which tells me that the hygrometer readings are about correct, but still too high for my liking.

The usual procedure again today, turned, misted and cooled for about 15 minutes.

Temperatures are from top to bottom shelf, 99.6, 98.6 & 99.1. The middle thermometer is off by a degree I believe. I emailed the company (Taylor) this morning and haven't received an answer yet. Maybe there is a way to calibrate it, but again maybe not. Thermometers that I am using are Smithfield Precisetemp (yeah, right!) Model No. 91551. I like them because they measure in tenths of a degree. BUT, they have to be accurate or they are worthless.

#2 egg looks bad inside, I candled it again and it is a sorry looking egg, sort of scrambled looking. 13 other Muscovy eggs to worry about.


I now have four more Embden eggs, Gracie laid another this morning, and tomorrow I will put them in the incubator. The other two are in there and I haven't much hope for fertility in them or these four. My gander is over two years old and "should" be up-to-par, but maybe I need to put a kiddie pool out instead of the mortar tub I got from Lowe's. Do Embdens need water to mate?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Day 26 and time to build an Ark!

We have had non-stop rain showers today and rain just about every day now for years, well, it seems like years.

If I used my GQF more extensively, I would build a little room in my shop and install a dehumidifier. My incubator humidity is running top shelf to bottom 42%, 43% & 43% which tells me that the hygrometer readings are about correct, but still too high for my liking.

The usual procedure again today, turned, misted and cooled for about 15 minutes.

Temperatures are from top to bottom shelf, 99.6, 98.6 & 99.1. The middle thermometer is off by a degree I believe. I emailed the company (Taylor) this morning and haven't received an answer yet. Maybe there is a way to calibrate it, but again maybe not. Thermometers that I am using are Smithfield Precisetemp (yeah, right!) Model No. 91551. I like them because they measure in tenths of a degree. BUT, they have to be accurate or they are worthless.

#2 egg looks bad inside, I candled it again and it is a sorry looking egg, sort of scrambled looking. 13 other Muscovy eggs to worry about.


I now have four more Embden eggs, Gracie laid another this morning, and tomorrow I will put them in the incubator. The other two are in there and I haven't much hope for fertility in them or these four. My gander is over two years old and "should" be up-to-par, but maybe I need to put a kiddie pool out instead of the mortar tub I got from Lowe's. Do Embdens need water to mate?

My Embden gander and Toulouse goose mated fine in the small kiddy pool I had for them when it was cold and they were mating they seemed to like being able to be on their feet. they also used the ramp quite a bit for mating and would fall off of it a times. LOL I also saw them mate on dry ground too so don't think they are too picky. Sorry about egg #2 I hope all the rest continue to stay strong.

 

[charlindabob]

Day 27.........getting closer

Nothing different, temps and humidity is staying about the average. Turned, misted and cooled as usual. Two days and weigh-in.



I did put four of Gracie's eggs in the 'bator, but I think it's a lost cause. The first two candled clear again, so I don't expect these to be any different.

 

[charlindabob]

Day 28.......................

No changes from yesterday. Turned, misted and cooled.





Removed Gracie eggs 1 & 2 as they have been in about 9-10 days and still candled clear. Washed them and will drill and blow out tonight or tomorrow. Bought kiddie pool which is bigger than the mortar tub they had for water. Both George and Gracie seemed to enjoy it. Might help in the mating?.....

 

[Miss Lydia]

Day 28.......................

No changes from yesterday. Turned, misted and cooled.





Removed Gracie eggs 1 & 2 as they have been in about 9-10 days and still candled clear. Washed them and will drill and blow out tonight or tomorrow. Bought kiddie pool which is bigger than the mortar tub they had for water. Both George and Gracie seemed to enjoy it. Might help in the mating?.....

Might

although mine didn't have any problems on dry ground either.

 

[charlindabob]

Day 29 and weigh-in today results:

01. Weighs 71g, should weigh 72g
02. Discarded today, all scrambled inside
03. Weighs 70g, should weigh 72g
04. Weighs 74g, should weigh 75g
05. Weighs 71g, should weigh 72g
06. Weighs 77g, should weigh 76g
07. Weighs 61g, should weigh 66g
08. Weighs 74g, should weigh 72g
09. Weighs 68g, should weigh 73g
10. Weighs 75g, should weigh 74g
11. Weighs 68g, should weigh 67g
12. Weighs 72g, should weigh 71g
13. Weighs 74g, should weigh 75g
14. Weighs 66g, should weigh 68g

The ones in green are within one gram of where they should be.
The ones in blue are within 2 grams of where they should be.
The ones in red are about 5 grams from where they should be.
And the one in bold red is no more.

Now I candled them too and several I did not see any movement. Don't know if that is normal or all of them should be moving all the time? Some were moving inside, some were not (or if they were, I did not see it). I didn't try awfully hard to see movement either, so I don't know. Either they are good or they are bad.

It's getting closer and closer and a couple of the weights are worrisome, and some of the eggs that I didn't see movement are worrisome too. It's too late to have a 100% hatch and really getting too late to worry much about the ones that concern me, but I can only hope for the best at this point. I don't know if I should raise or lower the humidity as I have some weighing a bit too much and some not weighing quite enough, and then I have #'s 7 & 9. I really misted them down in an effort to have them gain or even just maintain their weight and it appears misting may have had the opposite effect and caused them to lose even more. I don't know. I think I will just keep doing what I'm doing and leave the silica gel in until I move them to the hatching tray.

About a week to go, give or take a day or two....................