Call Duck Egg Incubation

[Corbdee]

Mare can I join in on your new thread? I promise no bunnies

 

[kmpcfp]

I have only hatched one batch of calls (last year) from local eggs, but I can give you my experience. Candled at 7-10 days and threw away the duds. Of the 6 that I had that were fertile, only one didn't make it and it died in shell before the yolk was absorbed.

I hand turned 3x a day, dabbing each egg with a damp paper towel once or twice a day while keeping an eye on air cell size. I stopped turning at day 24-25 and they began external pipping at day 26/27. I did poke a tiny safety hole after candling and finding an internal pip on day 25/26. They didn't fully hatch until day 27 or day 28.

I ended up helping 4 out of the shell and the 5th made it out on her own very quickly. I wish I waited a little bit longer to help. The ducklings ended up fine, but one did have a bit of a bloody navel that wasn't 100% closed.

They probably would have made it out themselves as mine aren't show standard. The 5th one that I did not help ended up being the "stumpiest" of all.