Australia - Six states..and that funny little island.

[K.Riggs]

Mine is a brand new $600 incubator. I did exactly what the manual said
Apparently you can't do what the manual says... OK

Now I expect to be assisting pretty much all of them. Damn it. I want at least one more to survive I do not want this one to be alone. I expect mine are all still alive. For now, I don't think it's to do with the eggs or being dirty all of mine have made it to fully developed. I think it's just my humidity.

Good luck!! Keep me updated xxx

 

[LuckysMum]

heres's some photos
of my eggs. I did clean them off as much as possible some of it was on so hard I didn't want to break the egg or damage the outside cleaning it.

 

[LuckysMum]

These are my pips the blue one is more than 24hrs. Can you up your humidity more?

 

[LuckysMum]

Fancy these are the chicks they are getting so big already. I just cleaned the brooder now look at it. haha

 

[K.Riggs]

heres's some photosView attachment 1151055
of my eggs. View attachment 1151054 I did clean them off as much as possible some of it was on so hard I didn't want to break the egg or damage the outside cleaning it.

Well I disinfected all mine before setting. For me my issue is humidity I Am sure of it. I am seriously damned if I do damned if I don't now. I will likely have to assist all of them and each time I open it to do so it add water in it will effect the next one.

 

[Fancychooklady]

These are my pips the blue one is more than 24hrs. Can you up your humidity more?
View attachment 1151056 View attachment 1151057

Those eggs are way too dirty for setting. If you wash eggs you remove the ' bloom ' that is the last thing that the egg is coated with just before it is released from the clocoa . It protects the eggs contents from bacteria. If anything a light wipe with a damp paper towel , but only if they are very special eggs. Even the cleanest of eggs will have a build up of bacteria on them after 21 days in an incubator, that is why it is imperative to bleach or sterilise the incubator after every batch of eggs.

 

[Fancychooklady]

Fancy these are the chicks they are getting so big already. I just cleaned the brooder now look at it. hahaView attachment 1151058

Little cuties. Yeah I go through lots of hand towel here, but it's quicker and easier than anything else I've tried.

 

[K.Riggs]

I

Those eggs are way too dirty for setting. If you wash eggs you remove the ' bloom ' that is the last thing that the egg is coated with just before it is released from the clocoa . It protects the eggs contents from bacteria. If anything a light wipe with a damp paper towel , but only if they are very special eggs. Even the cleanest of eggs will have a build up of bacteria on them after 21 days in an incubator, that is why it is imperative to bleach or sterilise the incubator after every batch of eggs.

I did know that but still would rather risk sterilizing them. After much research that is what i thought was best with how dirty they were. Being they were expensive and very hard to get and I can't get them here, I felt it was worth trying. They are actually all alive and fully developed. The one i assisted seems very healthy and strong and is already drinking water on its own. If I get a pair of healthy ducks I will be happy and with eight still alive in sure I will. My problems are with low humidity i'm pretty confident. If I had known it was time to assist in sure I would have two healthy ducks. I will assist them all if I have to I may as well at this point. I will avoid dirty eggs in the future and I will run water fowl with much more humidity than the Covina manual says in future. We live we learn x

 

[LuckysMum]

We'll see how I do. The woman was adamant they would be fine. Like k Riggs said "we live we learn". I won't trust a stranger with all you guys on hand.
I have found another lady who sells Cayuga eggs while I was looking for call eggs. I might go and see what hers are like if we don't get a lot of success.
I'm pretty fastidious with cleaning incubators and brooders. Yeah I go through rolls of paper but that's better than sick chicks. My stock feeder has hemp bedding at a reasonable price I usually go to that about 1 or 2 weeks in when they go to the outside brooder.
Fancy there are only a few that are really dirty should I get the shells out as quick as possible and will the ducklings show signs of sickness straight away. I'm wondering if I should isolate them straight away. Sorry to ask so many questions.

 

[Fancychooklady]

We'll see how I do. The woman was adamant they would be fine. Like k Riggs said "we live we learn". I won't trust a stranger with all you guys on hand.
I have found another lady who sells Cayuga eggs while I was looking for call eggs. I might go and see what hers are like if we don't get a lot of success.
I'm pretty fastidious with cleaning incubators and brooders. Yeah I go through rolls of paper but that's better than sick chicks. My stock feeder has hemp bedding at a reasonable price I usually go to that about 1 or 2 weeks in when they go to the outside brooder.
Fancy there are only a few that are really dirty should I get the shells out as quick as possible and will the ducklings show signs of sickness straight away. I'm wondering if I should isolate them straight away. Sorry to ask so many questions.

Have a read of the link I shared, realistically if the bacteria has impacted or penetrated the embryo adversely then you would expect them to have issues early on. Chicks are most vulnerable in the first 10 days of life. I'd be inclined to get the chicks out of the incubator ASAP once they hatch. I put the eggs in muffin cases at lock down , just helps to contain them and prevent them rolling around the incubator.