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

[The Farmers' Daughter]

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I've been sending duck eggs to the family...and heard several thought they were good for cooking but too hard to crack and the whites were too rubbery to eat for breakfast.....so...I'm collecting the duck eggs to hatch! These are from yesterday evening and this morning.
And those are Columbian Wyandotte and Delaware bantam eggs too.

Lily loves the new babies hatching in tha back bedroom.
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I was asked to participate in a genetic research project with the Livestock Conservancy. The study compares the immune system of Heritage breeds vs that of commercial birds. Several breeders of Columbian Wyandotte are participating from across the country.
I mailed my 12 blood samples yesterday. Looking forward to reading the results when the study is published.
These are CW.
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Not my baby, but wanted to see if anyone caught her cute costume.

Wow. That's quite an honour to be part of the study. You must have quite the reputation as a breeder for them to know of you.

That is the sweetest costume ever!

 

[NanaKat]

Let us know what they find

Could be a year before they publish.

 

[Pugsabi]

Perfect.

Theia Habiba Tesginger.

Now that's a proper and sensible name.

 

[Pugsabi]

Yesterday's birthday boy.

 

[CSAchook]

Yesterday's birthday boy.
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[CrazyCrttr75]

Yesterday's birthday boy.
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He is so cute in his little party hat and with his own pupcake! I'm sure he had the best birthday ever. Until next year that is.

 

[littleprairieheartsfarm]

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I've been sending duck eggs to the family...and heard several thought they were good for cooking but too hard to crack and the whites were too rubbery to eat for breakfast.....so...I'm collecting the duck eggs to hatch! These are from yesterday evening and this morning.
And those are Columbian Wyandotte and Delaware bantam eggs too.

Lily loves the new babies hatching in tha back bedroom.
View attachment 1674179

I was asked to participate in a genetic research project with the Livestock Conservancy. The study compares the immune system of Heritage breeds vs that of commercial birds. Several breeders of Columbian Wyandotte are participating from across the country.
I mailed my 12 blood samples yesterday. Looking forward to reading the results when the study is published.
These are CW.
View attachment 1674181 View attachment 1674182View attachment 1674186 View attachment 1674187 View attachment 1674184 View attachment 1674183
Not my baby, but wanted to see if anyone caught her cute costume.

That’s an amazing honor! I can’t wait to hear the results, though it may take a while.

 

[CrazyCrttr75]

I need recommendations. What is a good incubator? I know that I want an automatic egg turner. I don't want to spend a ridiculous amount but am willing to spend a decent amount. Preferably something to be able to hatch at least 20 or more. Not sure that we'd ever hatch that much at a time but I'd rather have something a little bigger than I need than smaller. I'm up on Amazon trying to look at some and am reading reviews and a lot of them have not so great reviews. It's just so difficult to know what was "user error" or those "sometimes stuff just happens type error" but isn't the norm that usually happens. And is it worth having a digital thing that keeps up with humidity and temp and all that?So I'd like some opinions.
Thx all!

 

[R2elk]

I need recommendations. What is a good incubator? I know that I want an automatic egg turner. I don't want to spend a ridiculous amount but am willing to spend a decent amount. Preferably something to be able to hatch at least 20 or more. Not sure that we'd ever hatch that much at a time but I'd rather have something a little bigger than I need than smaller. I'm up on Amazon trying to look at some and am reading reviews and a lot of them have not so great reviews. It's just so difficult to know what was "user error" or those "sometimes stuff just happens type error" but isn't the norm that usually happens. And is it worth having a digital thing that keeps up with humidity and temp and all that?So I'd like some opinions.
Thx all!

I know people who use the Hovabator 1588 and are very happy with it. You can find it at all kinds of different prices depending where you buy it and what accessories that you get with it.

A digital PID controller is wonderful but humidity is directly proportional to the ambient humidity in the room where the incubator is and is also directly proportional the surface area of the water in the incubator. If your ambient humidity is high, there is nothing a humidity control system can do to bring the humidity level in the incubator down.

 

[RUNuts]

Used incubators are good. Hovabator 1602n is working great for me.

Agree - you want an egg turner for time savings. I work and wouldn't turn them every 4 hours.
Thermostats are iffy. Test it for a couple weeks until you get it dialed in, find a temperature stable place in the house where the cat won't eat it and are confident in it so you aren't always second guessing. I got mine dialed in, shut the AC vents blowing on it and let it run for a week. THEN added a fan and water for humidity testing.

Calibrate your thermometer. Search on BYC and utube for instructions for calibrations.

Plan on buying a hygrometer. +/- 5% appears standard. Calibrate it so you will trust it. I REALLY like and wanted the remote read units. I'll recommend them.

Do you want still air or circulated air? I went with circulated air because of all the research and I was planning on a lot of quail eggs. Both work.

Incubator Warehouse has good articles, good stock and good reviews. Has a chart comparing the available brands, styles and models.