Ducklady87
In the Brooder
- Oct 11, 2020
- 11
- 41
- 28
hello everyone!
I am happy to announce that my first hatch is nearly over! It has been a long and stressful road. From an unclear start date of natural incubation, to a finnicky and somewhat unreliable incubator and thermometer. To begin, I was unsure what the start date of incubation was. Mama duck started brooding very late in the season. Then suddenly she stopped sitting on her eggs very much, and we had serious worries about the cold weather. So, I went out, collected all but two eggs and got them in the incubator.
The incubator was not my best friend. It had a very touchy dial for unspecified temperatures, and an internal thermometer that did not work. This led to hours of caredul adjustments and measurements using a digital meat thermometer.
Mistakes were made the first day of incubation. The temperature had dropped overnight, and I realized I had mistakenly put my eggs upside down in the egg turner (air cell down). I fixed my mistakes and kept going.
After weeks of careful temperature monitering and adjusting and candling, I saw my first pip. I freaked out and immediately started lock down, putting down paper towels and getting more water in for humiditylater that night the first of 10 fertalized eggs hatched! Unfortunately I quickly noticed a problem, the duckling was slipping. The paper towels I used did not provide enough grip. only one other egg was pipped at the time. through careful work we moved the incubator to the bathroom where the brooder (bathtub) was. through a quick coordinated operation, myself and my partner removed the duckling, took out the paper towels leaving the metal grate floor, and added more water to replace lost humidity which our incubator did not hold well anyway. The strategy worked, no we just had to hope the other eggs were not affected too badly.
I kept the first duckling company for hours since I didn't want him to get scared or anxious being alone.
Eventually the next one hatched, an entirely different color! We did the same operation as before, quickly removing the duckling and getting him into the brooder.
The next day we had two more hatches. The first one was yet another different color! we were shocked. And then the fourth one was a mix of colors. For the most part this semmed to be the end of our variety. We had 3 more pips going into the next day.
We ended up waking up to the 3 original pips, and another with a sizeable hole in it. One of the three hatched, but the one with the hole became concerning. His foot and beak were both sticking out of the hole! We realized he was not positioned correctly and not able to zip his egg. We did a quick opperation to get him mostly out of the shell before placing him back in the incubator. He got free and we waited for him to seperate from his egg on his own time. At this point another hatched, and then the fourth sometime later that night. All of the chicks have been placed in the brooder by now, and there are all looking healthy.
Which brings us to today. I am currently writing this on my phone with my hand placed in the tub with food on it to help the ducklings not be as afraid of me. The good news is that when I came into the batgroom I saw that both of the remaining eggs had pipped! We still have to see if they are able to get out of their eggs hopefully by today. It is technically day 4, I think, of the hatch. I will update this thread on the status of the last eggs when they hopefully hatch.
I was honestly surprised I was able to hatch even one duckling, let alone 8. I never imagined there would be a chance of all 10 eggs hatching.
I learned so much from these forums over the last month, and I definitely would not have all the knowledge I do now if not for this place, so thank you very much everyone! I am so grateful for the help.
I'll be sure to put a pic of my duckling for y'all to see.
I am happy to announce that my first hatch is nearly over! It has been a long and stressful road. From an unclear start date of natural incubation, to a finnicky and somewhat unreliable incubator and thermometer. To begin, I was unsure what the start date of incubation was. Mama duck started brooding very late in the season. Then suddenly she stopped sitting on her eggs very much, and we had serious worries about the cold weather. So, I went out, collected all but two eggs and got them in the incubator.
The incubator was not my best friend. It had a very touchy dial for unspecified temperatures, and an internal thermometer that did not work. This led to hours of caredul adjustments and measurements using a digital meat thermometer.
Mistakes were made the first day of incubation. The temperature had dropped overnight, and I realized I had mistakenly put my eggs upside down in the egg turner (air cell down). I fixed my mistakes and kept going.
After weeks of careful temperature monitering and adjusting and candling, I saw my first pip. I freaked out and immediately started lock down, putting down paper towels and getting more water in for humiditylater that night the first of 10 fertalized eggs hatched! Unfortunately I quickly noticed a problem, the duckling was slipping. The paper towels I used did not provide enough grip. only one other egg was pipped at the time. through careful work we moved the incubator to the bathroom where the brooder (bathtub) was. through a quick coordinated operation, myself and my partner removed the duckling, took out the paper towels leaving the metal grate floor, and added more water to replace lost humidity which our incubator did not hold well anyway. The strategy worked, no we just had to hope the other eggs were not affected too badly.
I kept the first duckling company for hours since I didn't want him to get scared or anxious being alone.
Eventually the next one hatched, an entirely different color! We did the same operation as before, quickly removing the duckling and getting him into the brooder.
The next day we had two more hatches. The first one was yet another different color! we were shocked. And then the fourth one was a mix of colors. For the most part this semmed to be the end of our variety. We had 3 more pips going into the next day.
We ended up waking up to the 3 original pips, and another with a sizeable hole in it. One of the three hatched, but the one with the hole became concerning. His foot and beak were both sticking out of the hole! We realized he was not positioned correctly and not able to zip his egg. We did a quick opperation to get him mostly out of the shell before placing him back in the incubator. He got free and we waited for him to seperate from his egg on his own time. At this point another hatched, and then the fourth sometime later that night. All of the chicks have been placed in the brooder by now, and there are all looking healthy.
Which brings us to today. I am currently writing this on my phone with my hand placed in the tub with food on it to help the ducklings not be as afraid of me. The good news is that when I came into the batgroom I saw that both of the remaining eggs had pipped! We still have to see if they are able to get out of their eggs hopefully by today. It is technically day 4, I think, of the hatch. I will update this thread on the status of the last eggs when they hopefully hatch.
I was honestly surprised I was able to hatch even one duckling, let alone 8. I never imagined there would be a chance of all 10 eggs hatching.
I learned so much from these forums over the last month, and I definitely would not have all the knowledge I do now if not for this place, so thank you very much everyone! I am so grateful for the help.
I'll be sure to put a pic of my duckling for y'all to see.
I wonder what they are goin to look like when they grow up!!
