Australians - Where are you all????

[duckyfromoz]

Double post when site went down....

I guess I could write something funny...or maybe a random photo.... just to fill in the space!!!!

My travel incubator...Had to take some eggs up to my block of land- They hatched on the way!!!!

 

[duckyfromoz]

Oh LOOK>>> TRIPPLE POST!! I get to do another random photo!!

 

[duckyfromoz]

Well tomorrow is the last official day of my holidays. I am planning on spending the day cleaning so I can go back to work not feeling like I completely wasted my time off. I really dont want to go back though...I have loved being home with all my ducklings..

 

[wooklet]

Love your names especially Lord Montague....can't remember the rest! Going back to work is always hard isn't it? Still, hard to live without it! How are Reggie and Stevie Ray going these days?
I had a near miss this evening,8 of nine eggs had hatched, and there was no sign of life from the 9th, so I took it out of the incubator to throw away,put it down on the bench and heard loud cheeping - you guessed it, it was coming from the egg, so now it is back in the incubator with my apologies to it, don't know if I put it back the right way around though!
Also the new Rooster got into a barney with one of the other roosters, through the bars of the pen, he bloodied his comb which is normal, but seems to have got a scratch around his eye somewhere, he is blinking and it has a yellow discharge coming from it, can you suggest something that I can put on it? I'll take him to the Vet if neccessary, but thought maybe there was something I could try first?
AND ...ha.ha.ha!..hubby has made an incubator for himself and is now collecting all the Barnevelder eggs for himself, he's got the bug!Now it will be 2 brooders and 2 incubators in my kitchen! I'm catching up with you!

 

[duckyfromoz]

LOL....they finally turned up!!! Last night the site went down while I was trying to post my message... It has been sitting there all day although just one copy.. VERY STRANGE...I will have to go back and write something in all the double posts!!!!

I did that once..I took an egg out and put it on the kitchen sink- An hour or so later I saw it move...Poor little one didnt make it in the end though from memory. Hope you have better luck with yours.

I remember Roosters fighting when I was growing up on the farm.. They could really make a mess of each other.

WOW!! he has got the hatching bug!! Thats so funny.... Would he like some duck eggs too!!

Regie and Stevie- Ray anre doing well. Stevie- Ray is out in the shed with the adult ducks tonight for the first time. I went to check on them a while ago and found the adults up one end - and the babies down the other. I might go and check them agin later- but want an early night as I will probably be woken by the babies I have in the hatcher..They may be slow- but they sure are noisey ones!!

 

[wooklet]

I asked him - won't print the reply!!

(There you go I used that smilie again!) He also said that maybe you would like one of his incubators to put your ducks in?! Actually he has come up with a brilliant idea for a semi automatic turned involving wire racks from fridges, I will post a pic, it is quite ingenius . The little egg had only been out for a few minutes so hope all will be well.

Have a good day tomorrow whatever!

 

[duckyfromoz]

I will have a great day...Its my birthday...And I have ducklings hatching!!! What could make my day better!!! I didnt plan things that way...but I sure wont complain

Lol...I have two incubators!! I think that is enough... but maybe one day - when I have some more land- I will have more- or a bigger one at least. Look foward to seeing pics of what your Hubby has made. Its so nice that he is sharing your love of hatching and raising chickens.

 

[duckyfromoz]

I have been woried all day that my ittle guys were slow... Well I might just get to share my birthday with one or two of them now... Sadly I lost one though..He was wrongly possitioned in the egg.. I did actually open up the egg to look- I dont do that often- poor little one..it was so tiny but squished up- and no way of moving its head so it could pip.... Another looks weird- I have been misting the membranes as these guys are a bit dry- and each time I spray - the membrane looks very brown..I think maybe I might have a little coloured one!! I do have a black drake- But so far he hasnt fathered any of them... I hope this little one turns out the darker colour I think he will...not a black- but he looks darker than the yellow ones I am used to getting.

 

[wooklet]

Awww.. sorry that you lost the little one, I hate it when they don't make it after all they go through to live. The egg that didn't hatch didn't make it either, like you I opened it and the little one was dead, guess it just didn't have the strength to break through. Hubby always says'there'll be plenty more" but I can't see it like that, each one is an individual little life, and it is precious to them. I hope your others all come through well with some nice colours, black is a beautiful colour for ducks, there were some black runners at the last show I went to , I spent a long time admiring them. Think a black runner won best waterfowl at the Hobart rare breeds show last year. I'll look it up and let you know. Did the Runner actually come from India? Maybe that is why I like them so much - I was brought up in India,and they must be in my subconscious!We had a white duck and 2 Canadian geese at one stage,the geese chased the duck mercilessly, and then one day the duck had had enough and turned on the geese! From then on the balance changed and it was the duck chasing two huge geese round and round the garden. Wish I'd had a camcorder then!

 

[duckyfromoz]

The Indian runners we know today are very different from when the breed originally was imported in the 1800's - many more colours- and actually alot more upright than the original birds from Bali, Java and Lombock. Not from India at all - but some birds were imported to india- and in turn sent on again from those locations. I actually have the book which was written as a historic guide to the indian Runner- it is very interesting. There was much debate about the origin of Runners for a long time.

So sorry to hear you lost one too. It is sad...My little duck actually had its eyes open... Poor little guy.. Its so hard to know when to help= the little one looked perfect otherwise and had almost completely absorbed the yolk sac.

Well...an hour and a half left ...I am heading off to bed now...but will be watching those little ones in the hope at least one manages to emerge from an egg before midnight.