Happy Saturday All,
I recently had 4 Mandarin Eggs to hatch E.H.D. for 5\\05. So I put in the 3 eggs (1 came cracked)with a group of chicken eggs to incubate and 1 duck died about 1.5 weeks in, the other 2 were great. I stopped the turner for the chicken eggs and was hand turning the ducks for a couple days until the chick eggs were removed to hatch elsewhere. I'd bought a Lil' Giant and wasn't trusting it against the Brinsea,so I was waiting for pips before transfering them to it. After finding a very helpful video on U tube we figured the thing out fine. All the chicks hatched with alot of help. This time I had a 90% hatch compared to 30%. Only because I helped them out, they're almost always dried out in the shell. All are fine but 1 with a knee that's locked up. I dont know how to nicely put that 1 down, I'll leave it to nature. We're up in the mountains of NE CA at 4000 ft alt. and with the forest out back the humidity is really hard thing here. I did finally think to use an overnite pads for extra water and that worked awesomely,wish I thought of it last year! Anyway I candled yesterday and the other 2 were dead and i dont know why they had only 5 days to go!!
What happened to my poor duckles we were soo excited to FINALLY have some Mandies, a couple is fine 1 would've been nice. I could clearly see the lil bodies of them inside, but yolks and viens were all dark which means it had been a couple days ago. The worst part is my Dad bought them for us, we won em' on Ebay 4-$65. The seller has been Awesome and is sending me 2 more to replace the cracked 1,my cost is the shipping on these. THANK YOU to her!!
So now i dont know if I should incubate again? This time they'll be alone in it or I have my Silkie hen that's broody now(she wasn't before)? Do chickens provide enough moisture for duck eggs? Though shes nice enough to be able to mist if needed,I did'nt spray them when in the bator and they were fine until the chickies hatch time came. Any thoughts or experiences with hatching Mandarins would be appreciated greatly.
