December hatch-along

[Dion Fiacre]

hello, I am incubating my first eggs ever, they are duck eggs on their 6th day. I took my kids into the bedroom and candled the eggs for them to see the embryos growing.

One egg had a grey spot about the size of a nickel. I immediately thought it was a bacterial infection, however, the spot started to disappear right before our eyes. Had the kids not seen it too, I would have thought I was seeing things.

Can anyone explain this? I am relieved the spot is gone and the heart is still beating, but you can tell that there are blood veins everywhere but where the spot was, so I am still worried about this phenomenon.

Is there anyone familiar with this? I cannot find any info on it. Thank you

 

[cree57i]

Could it be the beginning of a chick swimming around in the amneotic fluid? Love to see little swimmers and since you have veins, that would be my bet.

 

[Dion Fiacre]

I just went back....worrier that I am, and the spot is back. I was able to take some pictures this time. After it went away the first time, I drew a dot where I thought it had been to make it easier to find. Ugh! I have a bad feeling about it. And, this was the biggest baby to develop so far. I think we could see its eye already and we could definitely see its heart beating. Even though they were all started at the same time, this little one is about twice the size as the others I have going.

 

[Cynthia12]

Arrived during the night! Officially a December baby! 3 pips! Hopefully more to come! Any idea what to call a Black Copper Marans/RIR cross? I have been researching and have only seen one suggestion, a "copper black" - ideas?

It would be called a mixed breed.

 

[Cynthia12]

I just went back....worrier that I am, and the spot is back. I was able to take some pictures this time. After it went away the first time, I drew a dot where I thought it had been to make it easier to find. Ugh! I have a bad feeling about it. And, this was the biggest baby to develop so far. I think we could see its eye already and we could definitely see its heart beating. Even though they were all started at the same time, this little one is about twice the size as the others I have going.

Hmm..duck eggs..do you see double yolks at times? That is a good sized spot there. Would explain it disappearing. It is floating away from you as you turn it. Or not, could be floating to the top..?

 

[Dion Fiacre]

Thank you for your suggestion, it must be floating around in there whatever it is...like you said. I do see double yolks about once a week. The yolks are usually equal in size though.

 

[mich9510]

Well. I'm going to join the December hatch-a-long. I just received 2 hopefully fertile emu eggs that I have setting. I will place them in the bator tomorrow mid-morning. I've had pretty good success with hatching so far aside from the horrible incubator incident. I lost 14 ducks but was able to pinpoint what the problem was. The emus will be tough since I can't candle them. I did find a scholarly article that says it possible to candle using a flashlight and the IR night vision mode on a mini dvr. I don't even know where my recorder is so I'm not sure I'm even going to attempt it. The bator is warm and I've got my thermometers calibrated and my humidity gauges calibrated. Heat sinks are in. I guess I'll be taking part in the January hatch-a-long too.

 

[mich9510]

Here's some pictures. Wish this wanna-be farmer luck!

 

[Cynthia12]

Oh wow! This will be fun! How long?

 

[generaldsherman]

Here's some pictures. Wish this wanna-be farmer luck!

wow! Cool!