Activate Eggs

[bemba]

Just wondering how many hours of constant heat it takes for a fertile egg to start development, cause my ducks when laying will sit on the eggs for a good few hours then get off until the full clutch is laid. I thought I read somewhere that it takes approx 24 hours of full heat, but don't really remember. I got 14 Call eggs from a friend and she said that the mother had started sitting, and had been sitting for about 12 hours, she took them out and left them in a container overnight and I picked them up the next afternoon, and I put them in my incubator 2 days later. I left them for 2 and a half days, that was this morning, when I opened the bator to turn them I noticed a funny discolouration on one of the eggs so I candled the lot, first egg had a tiny live embryo, next egg large blood ring..... I thought noooooooo, then the next 11 the same blood ring, and on the last egg another live embryo. Not sure if my bator killed all those embryos, or if they had already been activated then died when they cooled, but how could 2 be alive? The live embryos look way too small compared with those blood ring eggs, so what do you guys think? The temp is between 37 and 37.8 degrees celcius, and the humidity is 63%. Maybe mother duck was sitting longer than she thought? but still don't know how 2 are alive.

 

[Ridgerunner]

That's a great question. From a hatching viewpoint I don't know and have not seen that specific topic addressed by anyone I'd trust.

From an eating standpoint, I've read from one of the extension websites that chicken eggs show first development at 19 hours of incubation. The brain case and backbone can become visible then. I've always collected eggs once a day under a broody and not had problems. But I've never tried to hatch any eggs that have been under a broody for several hours.

The eggs will actually develop a little inside the hen before they are laid where they are at incubation temperature. That is why you get the bull's eye. But development stops with no bad effects when the egg is laid. I don't know how much it can continue to develop before cooling it will kill the developing chick.

I'll subscribe and see if anyone really knows the answer. I suspect the answer will be pretty nebulous and you should collect the hatching eggs as often as you can.

Thanks for posting this topic.

 

[bemba]

Wow thats interesting! That would be great if you know of anyone who could help..... this one has me stumped! I wish I had candled the eggs when I first got them, then I would have known for sure. Maybe the 2 live eggs were the last 2 laid and she hadn't been sitting long enough to activate them? Maybe the mother call could not cover all the eggs properly and those 2 didn't activate. I really hope it's not my bator. I have 2 test eggs in there at the moment to see if they develop or turn to blood rings, that should give me the answer about the bator anyway.