noobie egg questions

[Lacrystol]

I'd say that's Murphy's Law in action! hahaha!

I say that's not cool and they better quit tormenting me like that... Lol

 

[aychbe]

Today is day 27 and the babies have begun hatching. I woke up this morning to this:

https://t.co/nmNfxxcnJD

When I returned from work, I was greeted by a third.



The new babies are still in the incubator with the unhatched eggs. All remaining 8 have begun hatching. Through the process of keeping the babies in with the unhatched eggs, the eggs have gotten moved. I had all eggs set with the side I marked "X" facing up and on one of the eggs I noticed a hole was starting on the side marked "O" (the opposite of all the others).

My first question is should I turn the egg with the hole started on the "O" side so that the "O" is facing upwards or keep it with the "X" side up? Right now the "X" is up.

The other question is should I give them any food or water while in the incubator?

I plan on moving them once they're fluffy to my brooder. Should I wait a whole 24 hours or is it ok to move them once they're dry?

 

[Lacrystol]

Today is day 27 and the babies have begun hatching. I woke up this morning to this:

https://t.co/nmNfxxcnJD

When I returned from work, I was greeted by a third.



The new babies are still in the incubator with the unhatched eggs. All remaining 8 have begun hatching. Through the process of keeping the babies in with the unhatched eggs, the eggs have gotten moved. I had all eggs set with the side I marked "X" facing up and on one of the eggs I noticed a hole was starting on the side marked "O" (the opposite of all the others).

My first question is should I turn the egg with the hole started on the "O" side so that the "O" is facing upwards or keep it with the "X" side up? Right now the "X" is up.

The other question is should I give them any food or water while in the incubator?

I plan on moving them once they're fluffy to my brooder. Should I wait a whole 24 hours or is it ok to move them once they're dry?

Wait 24 hours to be sure they are completely dry, do not allow them to swim for the First week. Give them water but no swimming, No don't touch your facing down one, hell still get out. NO food or water in the bator, once you move them then yes they can play and eat. LOL.

SO CUTE.. I LOVE THE BLACK ONE..

 

[aychbe]

Thank you! And thank you so much for your help throughout the process.

Five have hatched so far and three of them are Black Swedes. I guess my alpha male hooked up with my Black Swede female several times that week...hahaha! I have one khaki campbell so far and one that is obviously a mix but I'm not sure what kind of mix it is. It's actually silverish and has a lot of yellow in it. I'm very excited to see what everyone else comes out looking like.

I'll post more pictures after they're fluffed and in the brooder. It looks as if the remaining 6 all have started so I'm anticipating an excited evening.

I'll keep them in the incubator for 24 hrs from their birth. I plan on attempting to vent sex them tomorrow. I've watched several videos on how to do that but if you know of any tricks for a n00bie, let me know!

 

[Lacrystol]

Hows the sex venting going?? I have never done it so I'm curious if you had a hard time doing it??

 

[aychbe]

So far either I have all females or I'm doing it wrong. I'm leaning towards I'm doing it wrong...hahaha! I'm going to read more and watch more videos and hopefully find a male or two. I'm not keeping any of the babies and I planned on selling them straight run but I wanted to learn how to vent sex as I know I'll want to keep some down the line to replenish my flock and it will be majorly helpful to know the sex of the ducks when they're still babies.

Also, I had 4 stubborn eggs that didn't hatch before I left this morning. When I came home, 3 were born. The last one is the one that started cracking out the bottom of the egg on the "O" side. The newest babies had turned the egg in the process of hatching and I can see it breathing through a rather large hole in the bottom. Should I still keep it X side up or turn it so the hole it has already made is facing up?

 

[subhanalah]

Is the egg laying on its side? Leave it turned on its side, but the hole facing up

 

[aychbe]

The last one is finally out. The egg was on its side. The duckling ended up getting out through the bottom of the egg.

 

[subhanalah]

The last one is finally out. The egg was on its side. The duckling ended up getting out through the bottom of the egg.

that's amazing! What a great story! Did you get any pictures? I'm waiting for signs of movement or peeping right now!

 

[aychbe]

I do have some pics of the ducklings but none of the bottom hatching. I'll post some pics to this thread either later today or tomorrow.

This was my first hatching. I started with 18 eggs and ended up with 11 ducklings. The eggs that didn't hatch were either not fertile or nothing formed in them. Of the ducklings, the vast majority of them are Black Swedish, a few are Khaki Campbell and one is a silverish color that resembles the same markings as a Black Swede. Of my 2 males (black swede & khaki campbell) and 4 females (black swede, khaki campbell, rouen, and rouen/crested mix), I somehow managed to only obtain 1 unique, mixed duck for certain. I still have 4 fluffing in the incubator but all of them appear to be either swede or khaki.

that's amazing! What a great story! Did you get any pictures? I'm waiting for signs of movement or peeping right now!

This being my first time hatching anything, I was completely mind blown with how the babies were able to interact through the shell. About 5 days ago, I started hearing faint peeping noises and would find eggs mysteriously out of place in the incubator. I can only imagine the anticipation you're going thought! When they started hatching, I found it even more interesting how they would help each other out of the shells. Also, they almost always hatched in pairs. It was like they wanted someone new to hang out with.