My ancona duck has been brooding eggs behind my back. Well, sort of. I knew she had a couple of eggs, but she rarely seem to sit on them and they were barely ever warm when I checked them, not to mention dark. I figured, hey, it's the middle of winter and she's cooped up- let her have something to do... After finding a dead pair of ducklings in the coop this morning I decided that was a terrible idea. I now have a pipped duck egg in an an aquarium in my bathroom. I've settled it in a deep bedding of pine shavings under a heat lamp with a damp rag around it to keep the moisture in, and I've been rubbing it with warm water on occasion (I read that humidity is the biggest problem when hatching out ducklings under a heat lamp). I didn't have a proper thermometer for this sort of thing, so I had to substitute with an aquarium thermometer in a glass of water under the lamp by the egg- water temp will be different, I know, but I don't have much else at my disposal right now. >>;; It's staying at 97 degrees Fahrenheit. The duckling inside is chirping and I can hear it move in the shell. Is there anything else I should be doing for the little guy? ------------------------------------------------------ Egg is still peeping loudly and scratching- he really has a set of lungs! I've chipped away a little bit of the shell, and the membrane is broken in a spot- you can see movement inside. Any advise?
