What happened to the blood veins in the eggs?

[TLWR]

She is young, new to laying and a pekin duck (and heading into winter depending on where you are) - she is likely not going to sit on her eggs any time soon.
If you decide to incubate more eggs once the incubator arrives, put them in together and not as they are laid. You will want them to hatch around the same time - easier to control humidity if they are hatching around the same time.

good luck with the remaining egg.

 

[cajuntc74]

Thanks Amykins... he is pretty awesome. He had to order it online...I hope it gets here quickly! I have a question though....does the little baby slow down on movement toward the end? I haven't thrown the eggs out and have kept them in the "incubator" and tonight I took another look at them and the blood veins are still moving around a little.. not like they were but there is still movement just not the babies..I wonder if that is just from them breaking down in there ...I am keeping them warm at least a few more days to make sure they are really dead. Earlier this morning I didn't see ANY sign of blood veins and tonight they are there again...more so in one than the other but the veins are moving...any ideas?

 

[cajuntc74]

OMG!!!! I got up once again this morning and candled my "dead" eggs.. just to see if they were still dead...well!!!!!!!!!!! One of the eggs that is supposed to hatch on the 9th.. IS MOVING AROUND AGAIN!!! The blood vessels are pumping and jerking around! I wonder if God answered my prayers or if maybe they were just in shock from the heat...I don't know but the double yolk egg is still not showing any sign of movement but I am still going to hold on to it a few more days to see what happens. The eggs I put in there on the 29th are full of blood veins this morning and the ones I put in on the 17th are kicking around...and 2 from the 21st are showing signs of life!!!!!!!! I didn't kill them!!!!!!!!!!! (at least I don't think...)..The one from the 11th is the most exciting...I couldn't believe my eyes! I nearly threw the dern thing I was so excited when it flicked around. Maybe they just slow down on those movements the closer they get to hatching...IDK..

 

[Orca5094]

Wow, not sure what's going on with your eggs, but so great there are some signs of life in them again!

And YAY for your hubby getting you a real incubator! Sounds like you put in a great effort to build one yourself, but those tend to be alot harder to maintain proper temperature and humidity in. And not sure if your eggs are getting enough oxygen in there? Seems like they are covered by alot of layers from your explanation? They do need proper air flow to develop properly as well.

Anyway, fingers are all crossed for you that you still get some babies out of those eggs! ^-^

Oh, and I agree with always making sure you gather all the eggs you want to incubate first, and then putting them all in the incubator at the same time. You don't want all different hatch dates again like you have now. That makes lock-down and hand-raising them all alot harder if they hatch on different days and are different ages. Older ones will pick on younger ones and all that.

 

[cajuntc74]

Yes Orca5094 I was telling my hubby that I wasn't sure how I was going to handle the whole airflow situation. He tossed out some idea but now that we have a real incubator on the way that has the air circulation it shouldn't be an issue, I HOPE! As long as it gets here soon enough. I still have SOOOO much to learn. I am crossing my fingers just hoping that the incubator gets here in time. It was the craziest thing yesterday...I candled them numerous times throughout the day just hoping to see some sign of life..NOTHING...then this morning.. BOOM! There they were just moving all around in there.... the ones that were only a few days old have far more growth than yesterday.. meaning a bunch more blood vessels and the dark spot is bigger...I am more than thrilled. last night I begged God on the way to the grocery store to please let them live..I told God "I know they are just ducks but I really want them to live"...I like to think it was my prayer...but maybe it is my lack of knowledge that was the problem. Maybe I was just panicked over that temperature...I don't know.. BUT I will not let that happen again. It is just crazy that I was going to throw them in my compost pile yesterday and chose to wait a few days just to be sure...I am soooo glad I waited.

 

[cajuntc74]

We have 3 days and the first one will be hatching! Only one survivor out of 6 ...we are excited for just this one. We have more due to hatch on 11/16..This one is due to hatch on the 8th,

 

[Orca5094]

YAY!! Look at that little guy dancing in there! I just love watching eggs dance. Soon you might hear some peeping coming from inside the egg: BEST thing ever! ^-^

 

[cajuntc74]

I soooo can't wait! I am trying not to get too excited...BUT.. it's not working! I know a lot can still go wrong but everything looks perfect right now. I moved it into an ice chest...the temp is a steady 100 and the humidity is only 40% but I am misting it with warm water to try to keep the egg moist...I WISH THAT INCUBATOR WOULD GET HERE! It is supposed to arrive sometime between the 6th and the 10th. I think it will arrive too late for this one to hatch in it...

 

[Orca5094]

Yeah, the incubator might be too late for this first one, but at least you should have it for the others.

You can mist the inside of the incubator (anything non-electric of course, like the sides and the bottom around the eggs) with water as well to get the humidity up in there if you need to. Higher humidity is more important after it has pipped the shell so that the membrane doesn't dry out while the little guy is trying to hatch out, but for right now 40% is fine. Just remember that you don't want to open the incubator unless absolutely necessary once this first guy has made his first little pip in his shell. You will lose humidity very fast in there, which can dry the little guy out. So try to limit opening it to spray it down to once a day after that point, if possible.

 

[cajuntc74]

My incubator arrived yesterday! AND my neighbor didn't realize I had one coming and he bought me one too! So now I have a second incubator on the way. I guess I can have 2 sets going at the same time if I want. Anyway I was very impressed with it. I just plugged it in added water to the bottom tray turned it on and within 20 minutes the temp and humidity were already where they were supposed to be. I waited a while to make sure it was stable in there then put the eggs in it. I didn't put the turner in there because of this first baby that should be hatching within the next 24 hours or so. I candled it this morning and though it is AS active as it was a few days ago it is still moving around in there. I guess he doesn't have much room to move in there now. I am keeping a watchful eye on it because I am hoping to video it hatching. There was very little light visible inside the egg when I candled it so it is pretty jam packed in there! Hoping all goes well and we will have a healthy duckling soon!

I am thinking that I may use one incubator for the majority of the incubation process and then when day 25 arrives I can just move them to the incubator without the turning tray...