➡I accidentally bought Balut eggs: 2 live ducks! Now a Chat Thread!

[Farm Gurl]

I have learned something new today! Thank you for sharing your experience

 

[Kiki]

I have learned something new today! Thank you for sharing your experience

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I feel like every business in the Colorado Rockies claims to be the world's highest something or other. My house is at almost exactly 10,000 feet and I'm on the park, not on the mountainside. The thing that complicates baking/cooking/etc. has to do with the lower boiling point of water (probably other factors too). Cooking rice has never been so hard! I have never incubated, though this thread is inspiring. I will definitely chat with other CO peeps before undertaking it. It is sooooo dry here too, humidity is also an issue. Interesting theory about the yolk size; that makes total sense. Ok, now I'm rambling, I'm stopping now.

I tend to ramble too. Hatching at 10,000' is a problem. Mostly due to weight loss and oxygen. I posted the following in another thread you may want to hold on to if you end up incubating.
"Many questions people ask are about humidity. And as I think either you or Sally has said, 'humidity isn't an absolute number' or something to that effect. There are lots of reasons for that, ambient humidity, species, strain, pigment, size, etc..
What I keep forgetting to ask is where one's location is. Or more importantly, what is the elevation where they are incubating? Also, what is the elevation where the breeder flock is located?
The higher the elevation, the slower the embryo growth and therefor, the longer the duration of incubation. The air is thinner and molecules move around faster causing more movement of carbon dioxide and moisture across the shell surface.
Hatchability continues to decrease due to lower oxygen and dehydration of the embryo. Hatching above 1500 meters or about 5000 feet, this becomes a real issue.
So why is the elevation of the breeder flock important?
Many species of birds lay and incubate at much higher elevations. So there is evidence that birds can control the porosity of their eggs based on their elevation.
If the breeder flock is at a lower elevation than the incubation, humidity should be set higher to control weight loss but ventilation will need to be decreased.
If the breeder flock is at the same elevation the hens may have adapted eggshell porosity so ventilation can be increased to maintain correct weight loss.
If the breeder flock is at higher elevation, humidity may need to be lowered and ventilation increased."

If you would use 50% humidity at sea level, you would need 65% humidity at 10,000'.
At that elevation, it would be very helpful to boost oxygen in the incubator/hatcher.

 

[Kiki]

The ones Kiki bought from the grocery store were alive, it could’ve been someone in my family as most of are Vietnamese and sadly boil it alive like they do with seafood

Do you recognized The Man??

 

[Ladybird CA]

Do you recognized The Man??

Lol no but wouldn’t be surprised if my aunts sister knows him as she lives in Houston

 

[Kiki]

Houston is about 50 feet above sea level.

 

[R2elk]

If the breeder flock is at higher elevation, humidity may need to be lowered and ventilation increased."

This is correct.

If you would use 50% humidity at sea level, you would need 65% humidity at 10,000'.

This is backwards. I find hatching at a mile high requires lower humidity (30%) during incubation period and ventilation definitely needs to be increased especially during lockdown to increase available oxygen.

Hatching local eggs works well, hatching eggs from lower elevations can be very trying.

 

[Kiki]

Lol no but wouldn’t be surprised if my aunts sister knows him as she lives in Houston

I live in an area where there not only is a Spanish only speaking class in each grade level but also a Vietnamese only speaking class in my public elementary school.

 

[Ladybird CA]

Sounds like how it is in San Jose

 

[PirateGirl]

@ChickenCanoe and @R2elk this is all fascinating stuff. From what you both have said it sounds as if hatch rate will be higher with eggs from birds that live at altitude already (so my own flock or someone local) vs. purchasing shipped eggs from a significantly different/lower elevation, compounded by the typical loss from shipped eggs anyway. I wonder if there are troubles the other way around... so the layers and eggs come from high altitude and are shipped down to and incubated/hatched at sea level...