Egg Emergency! *update* all died :(

[obsidianembrace]

I would probably be staying home from school if i had it

I agree, i'm so excited.

What can too much humidity do? It likes to hover anywhere in the nineties.

 

[duckyfromoz]

Its really only during the the main incubation period that humidity is the biggest concern- by the time they get to this stage- they just need it high so they dont get shrink wraped by the membrane. If the humidity is too for the first 25 days- not enough moisture is lost from the egg and the duckling may drown before it can pip. By now- if they have pipped- if it really is very high- they will be breathing in very humid air and moisture can collect in the lungs- I havent ever lost one yet because of that- But I have heard of it happening. Being in the shell can help stop that happening too. Try not to worry too much. You are doing the best you can - and not having an incubator makes things difficult.

 

[Birdcrazy]

Cant wait for them to hatch for you

You'll have to post heaps of pics, call duckies are just the cutest things!!
Are they gonna turn out white?

 

[Sweetfolly]

Sorry about the first duckling.

I know it's crunch-time right now and this probably isn't the time for this question (maybe it'll distract you from staring at the eggs for a few minutes though!) - I thought Bonnie and Clyde were a pair of Whites? Then how in the world was that duckling Blue or Black Bibbed? White x White will always produce 100% white ducklings.

So, who's these babies' daddy?

 

[jellybean]

I've never had a drake that was ok with eggs or babies. I learned that the hard way. They break the eggs, pull out partially hatched babies and kill them, or kill several day old babies or even a few week old babies. I've had a drake drag babies into the pool or water dish and drown them, strangle them, etc. I NEVER let the drakes around as soon as the mother starts sitting. It's not worth it, and even if one was seemingly ok, he still might change his mind at any point. Better to keep them separated till the babies are mostly grown.

 

[obsidianembrace]

@Annarie: clyde is white but bonnie looks mostly like this . so you think he was bibbed? that's cool, we're looking for some different colors.

The eggs have a lot of dark gray coloring on them. You can see the air bubble, it's still normal colored. But the rest of the egg is turning grayish. I think it looks like scratches from the inside but my mom is worried and thinks it's water because the humidity was high for a long time. Do the eggs usually get darker as they hatch?

i think we are definitely going to find some sort of pen to put the ducklings in so they can be outside and be safe from clyde.

We are planning on keeping 1 female duckling. But will bonnie and clyde pick on her because she's almost two years younger? maybe we should keep two so that they'll have a friend their own age? do you think it would be a problem?

 

[katharinad]

The coloration is normal. They are scratching inside the membrane and who knows what away. It's not water, so don't worry. If the humidity is still to high, just remove another one of the wet towels. Remember it is not perfect in nature either, so don't sweat it.

 

[Sweetfolly]

Ah - White x Gray (Mallard-colored). You could get practically any color from that!

Probably not any solid White ducklings though, unless Bonnie is carrying the gene.

And I want you to stay optimistic, but in my experience when the you can see the grayish or brownish discoloration through the eggshell (not seeping, just a weird "shadowing" of dark color sort of bleeding on the white color), the ducklings have died. My eggs that die in lockdown without pipping always turn that color, and none of my healthy eggs that produced ducklings ever have.

I usually only have one or two of those in a batch of about 15 eggs, but my last hatch this year I had 9 out of 11 eggs that were alive at lockdown turn that color and die. Someone told me that other people have been having the same problem lately - it's something with the weather this year.

 

[obsidianembrace]

OH NO OUR HUMIDIFIER IS TRYING TO DIE!! sorry for the caps but i'm kind of freaking out. it hasn't been 'humidifying' for an hour! the humidity is still up because of the towels, but the temp is down because it was mostly the humidifier keeping the temp up (it's a heated humidifier). We unplugged it for a few minutes and completely refilled it and we're waiting to see if it starts working again...

Should we be turning the eggs? I don't think so...

Would it help if I tried to take a good picture of the color change for you guys to see?

 

[Featherland]

Try to relax and don't turn the eggs. What will happen will happen. Pictures would be nice so people can give their opinions on them. Did you get your humidifier working?