candle pics

[FunnyBunnies12]

You are right Katherine, you are right! I got to learn "SELF CONTROL" just like I tell my kids. I guess I just want to make sure it continues to develop properly, but I guess if I keep taking it out and disturbing it I'm doing more harm then good.

Dave/Krista I wish you all the luck, maybe the duckling is sleeping yet or taking a break. Hopefully something progresses and when it happens it will happen quick.

 

[katharinad]

Quote:
I think you may have a humidity issue, because you don't have an incubator and checking daily caused a problem. Usually you go into lockdown and don't open the incubator at all while hatching, until hatching is done. Just a drop of humidity for 10 seconds is bad. I guess it is kind of unavoidable in your case. I want you to listen for scratching or tapping sound, and perhaps enlarge the hole just a tiny bit this afternoon to the size of a lentil so you can look inside. You only have this 48 hour window for hatching, after that they usually shrink wrap and die. You still have 24 hours, so don't sweat it to much.

 

[davekrista]

Quote:
I think you may have a humidity issue, because you don't have an incubator and checking daily caused a problem. Usually you go into lockdown and don't open the incubator at all while hatching, until hatching is done. Just a drop of humidity for 10 seconds is bad. I guess it is kind of unavoidable in your case. I want you to listen for scratching or tapping sound, and perhaps enlarge the hole just a tiny bit this afternoon to the size of a lentil so you can look inside. You only have this 48 hour window for hatching, after that they usually shrink wrap and die. You still have 24 hours, so don't sweat it to much.

I have gone around and called around for incubators in my local area and no one carries them in this area at this time of year!!!

Any suggestions on where I can order one pretty cheap? I know its probably too late for these eggs, but we want to get some and do it right this time, and be prepared.....

I will poke the hole in a little while. My husband is doing my errands so I can stay home and watch the eggs.

EDITED - I just poked the hole completely - what should I expect? There was no strong odor that came out at me, but it didn't move either?

 

[katharinad]

I agree it is to late for this batch, but it is a good idea to get one for down the road. There are lots of choices, and going for the cheapest on is not always a good thing. Many of the cheaper ones run on old wafer technology to control heat. They are very touchy, and the heating element inside is usually gets very hot and poses and hand burning risk. Then you also have fan or no fan options. Fancy ones even offer humidity control at a much greater cost. If you buy one you really have to dig into your pocket book. Brinsea makes good ones, but they get expensive when you add an egg cradle to turn the eggs. You should look at the Octagon series http://www.brinsea.com/products/octagon20A.html
They are on sale right now, due to getting into winter. The lowest model without the cradle runs right now at 99 dollars. The better one with cradle around 380 dollars. I do not own this one, but there are many that like it. I own a GQF incubator. I did my research and found this one to be the best for the money. The one I choose runs on 12 volts internally making it very save. It does have a plug for 110 with a little inverter to bring it down to 12 volts for the machine. You can run this machine on a 12 volt battery, in the case of a long power outage or in you car's cigarette lighter. Newer bothered with the battery because it is well insulated and handle an outage of 8 hours, if you wrap a towel around it.
http://www.gqfmfg.com/store/comersus_listItems.asp?idCategory=30&orderBy=sku
I have the genesis 1588 for 129 dollars. There is nothing you need to adjust, just plug in and you are rolling. It has a Styrofoam body, which holds the heat very well, and you can buy a replacement if it breaks or gets to dirty. I had tons of hatches and it still looks like new. For duck eggs you can get a goose egg turner so the eggs will lay on the side, or you turn them by hand. I went out all the way and got the one that comes as a complete kit with quail eggs, and quail and chicken egg turner.
http://www.gqfmfg.com/store/comersus_viewItem.asp?idProduct=66
You can add the goose rails to it and you are set for all kind of eggs. http://www.gqfmfg.com/store/comersus_viewItem.asp?idProduct=97
Don't forget to get the vitamin additives to get the young ones going off to a good start
https://www.gqfmfg.com/store/comersus_viewItem.asp?idProduct=231
You should be able to get a good start for 200 dollars with turner. Also be warned incubating eggs can be addictive. I bet you will start to buy eggs on ebay and keep on going.

 

[katharinad]

Quote:
Was it breathing?

 

[davekrista]

I can't really tell if it was breathing. Maybe the hole wasn't big enough?

Oh and I am already looking on ebay and online for eggs. I'm already addicted.

but want to do it correctly with eggs that had a better start than these ones.

 

[tia]

How is the humidity doing? You should be able to take them in a dark room - shine a small lcd flashlight up from the bottom and you should be able to see movement. I would be careful taking them out to candle too much at this time though... as the humidity should stay pretty high.

 

[desertdarlene]

Did they hatch? I noticed you were looking for new eggs, so I hope this doesn't mean bad news for the duckie eggs you got before.

 

[katharinad]

I didn't hear anything yesterday or today. I have a bad feeling that the duckling didn't make it. It's very hard to the get everything right in a make shift incubator. The internal pip is usually the easy part. The hatch is very difficult under imperfect conditions. Timing is everything when you have to help. It takes some experience to help a duckling out of an egg without having it bleed etc.

 

[davekrista]

I'm sorry. I thought I had posted. I have a cold so my nose is stuffed up. When my husband got home, he said the eggs smelled really nasyty. He looked in the "hole" and said it wasn't moving. So he opened the other eggs as well and they weren't moving either. I did buy 6 pekin eggs from Nancy. She is mailing them out Monday and I am preparing for the arrival. Since I can't get an incubator locally, and my husband refuses to buy one online, I researched making a home made one. I found instructions from this site and I'm currently testing it as we speak. Temp is staying consistent at 97 degrees and my husband was able to find a thing that measures the % of humidity. I feel more confident now. I just have to research some more. From what I'm reading, wet bulb temp needs to be 86, so I'm trying to figure out what percentage that should be on my humidity. IF i calculated it correctly, I should be about 63, but I am researching more to make sure i'm correct......... thank you for all your help.....

I just wish i had better eggs for a better chance of making it... I feel confident about this next experience though.....

And we haven't given up our hunt for a local incubator yet....