Saigey
Songster
Hi! Okay, so, momma mallard nested for the 2nd time in our front flower bed, and laid 8 eggs. Something got into the nest overnight and scared the mother duck away, leaving 3 eggs. She hadn't returned by dusk, so I put together a diy incubator to see if I could rescue the little guys. They wouldn't have made it to the wildlife rescue place. Through this site (thank y'all!) I have learned a ton. One egg stopped developing around day 9, and the other one was a double yolker, I believe, and had development issues and stopped at about day 15.
My last little trooper is hanging in there, getting big and moving around. Lots of hand turning. Daily cooling and spritzing. Last night I transferred him into lockdown mode, and he was moving all over the place. As in, the whole egg was moving on the surface of the incubator. Today, I've been fighting with getting nice, high humidity for Day 25 until he's ready, but he's not moving around as much. I'm worried that candling him again will upset the process, although he had not pipped as of this morning. Air cell is nice and big. Do I panic? Help!
My last little trooper is hanging in there, getting big and moving around. Lots of hand turning. Daily cooling and spritzing. Last night I transferred him into lockdown mode, and he was moving all over the place. As in, the whole egg was moving on the surface of the incubator. Today, I've been fighting with getting nice, high humidity for Day 25 until he's ready, but he's not moving around as much. I'm worried that candling him again will upset the process, although he had not pipped as of this morning. Air cell is nice and big. Do I panic? Help!
