Tnballgirl
Chirping
- May 10, 2022
- 79
- 107
- 88
Good Morning,
Just thought I'd post here to see if there were anyone with a similar situation.
We had very cold weather in January and the first part of Feb. Approximately January 31 we had a sleet storm. On Feb 4th, my son found a nest of duck eggs (we have 7 mallard ducks that were hatched last year by a set that I had purchased as ducklings at Rural King the year prior). There were at least 25 eggs in the nest that was partially sumbmerged in the edge of the pond, covered in ice. If ducks lay an egg a day, they must have been there for almost a month when he found them. And none of the females were sitting on them. I told him to leave them alone, that something.....a turtle....raccoon.... would get them eventually.
Fast forward to February 17th. I couldnt stand it and went out and picked up 16 of the eggs. A few were broken and a few were completely submerged, so I left them. I let them warm to room temp and then put them in a 360 incubator. Four days later there were obvious empty eggs and another couple days later there were bad ones. Around the 25th of Feb, I was left with 4 developing eggs that looked approximately 2-3 days.
It is now approx day 26 in the incubator (and over 60 days since the first one was laid!!) All 4 eggs are filled and there is lots of movement of the membrane to the air pocket, although none appeared to have internally pipped as of last night.
I am amazed at the resiliance of these eggs, HOWEVER, they have yet to hatch.....and I wonder if they do hatch, will there be deformities from the fact that they sat for so long, in the freezing and fluctuating temperatures. I hope if there are, they are extra parts and not missing parts.
HAS ANYONE ELSE INCUBATED ICE EGGS SUCCESSFULLY?
Just thought I'd post here to see if there were anyone with a similar situation.
We had very cold weather in January and the first part of Feb. Approximately January 31 we had a sleet storm. On Feb 4th, my son found a nest of duck eggs (we have 7 mallard ducks that were hatched last year by a set that I had purchased as ducklings at Rural King the year prior). There were at least 25 eggs in the nest that was partially sumbmerged in the edge of the pond, covered in ice. If ducks lay an egg a day, they must have been there for almost a month when he found them. And none of the females were sitting on them. I told him to leave them alone, that something.....a turtle....raccoon.... would get them eventually.
Fast forward to February 17th. I couldnt stand it and went out and picked up 16 of the eggs. A few were broken and a few were completely submerged, so I left them. I let them warm to room temp and then put them in a 360 incubator. Four days later there were obvious empty eggs and another couple days later there were bad ones. Around the 25th of Feb, I was left with 4 developing eggs that looked approximately 2-3 days.
It is now approx day 26 in the incubator (and over 60 days since the first one was laid!!) All 4 eggs are filled and there is lots of movement of the membrane to the air pocket, although none appeared to have internally pipped as of last night.
I am amazed at the resiliance of these eggs, HOWEVER, they have yet to hatch.....and I wonder if they do hatch, will there be deformities from the fact that they sat for so long, in the freezing and fluctuating temperatures. I hope if there are, they are extra parts and not missing parts.
HAS ANYONE ELSE INCUBATED ICE EGGS SUCCESSFULLY?
