Filling the incubator 6-3-2011 Join me for my 1st attempt?

[stitch81]

Well, we've had quite a bit of excitement here this evening. My brother in law was chopping hay in a field near our house. He didn't see the nest until it was too late, and the momma duck died. My nephew knew I had an incubator going so came and got me and brought me out to the field to the nest. I ended up bringing in 8 duck eggs and placing them in the hatcher (as I had heard that ducks need a higher humidity, that and my incubator was already full of chicken eggs). There were 3 other eggs that had cracks so I decided to leave them thinking they were no good. My nephews ended up collecting the remaining 3 eggs. They wanted to crack one to see what it looked like inside. Turns out it was a nearly fully developed duck and was still alive! (I had already left at this point, and my mother in law was babysitting). They called me and told me about the duck being alive. I told them to quickly put the remaining 2 eggs in the hatcher with the others. When I got home (9p.m.) I sought advice here on BYC and candled a couple of the cracked eggs. Looks like they are on day 24 or 25 and are still alive. So. I now have the hatcher occupied with 10 duck eggs probably set to hatch Fri-SUn, and the chicken eggs that are in the incubator need to be placed in the hatcher on Monday morning... talk about cutting things close!

 

[kikidee]

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You are so lucky! I am on day 12 with my duck eggs and I can't stop panicking!

 

[Barrdwing]

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Oh jeez.. Now I am nervous....

Ah, but your incubator is behaving itself! Mine was not, last time around: it held its temps between 97 and 101 degrees for the first two weeks, and then went completely bonkers during the third week. Temps swung from 93 degrees clear up to 106 within the course of a few hours. My efforts to compensate for the swings didn't work. I "eggtopsied" most of the failed eggs and discovered that the embryo deaths pretty much coincided with the dates when the temperature swings had been extreme. We also had a severely delayed hatch, which told me that despite what the thermometer had said, the incubator had run too cool overall.

So this time around I've got a Brinsea Spot Check thermometer to help me keep track of what's going on. I've already discovered a large, 108-degree hot spot and several cool zones, none of which are supposed to happen with this model. I'm keeping lots of notes on what the temps are doing in all zones of the incubator; just like last time, they were consistent at first and are now starting to go all agley. But wowmanacat is right; the hen doesn't maintain a steady temp either. So I'm just going to sit tight--trying to keep my hands off the temperature adjustor--and see how things go. Maybe they'll hatch OK after all, in which case I will be dancing for joy, and I'll know a lot more about what temperatures eggs can handle. But if we get another crummy hatch, I'm going to be giving the manufacturer a little phone call to discuss the thermostat in this doggone 'bator.

I'd be willing to bet that the temps in your 'bator are a lot steadier than they are with mine, and that is going to make a huge difference. And the embryos really are supposed to be a little sturdier during the final week. Hang in there!

 

[Barrdwing]

Well, despite my grumping about the incubator, and a temperature swing from 93.9 degrees to 104.4 yesterday, one of the abandoned pea eggs hatched!

I am so relieved! Now our little orphan peachick has a buddy: he is SO happy, and has stopped crying. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed for the rest of the eggs, who still have a ways to go. Lockdown will be on Monday morning!

 

[stitch81]

I'll be joining you on monday for lockdown.

 

[wowmanacat]

Lockdown here is going to be late Wednesday since I had put most of my eggs in on Saturday the 4th and added 12 more on Sunday. Not really sure what is going to happen. My last hatch was all early so I just wait and see. Last night I had to throw out 2 more eggs. One was not fertile and the other had quit and developed a blood ring, so I am now down to 25 eggs. All my friends eggs are good and doing well. She is going to be so happy to see all the babies that she is going to be getting (if they all hatch). She lost a few of her babies to a coon, along with all her ducks. I might try to do some ducks so that we both can have some. I just have to set up a place for mine to be.
Happy hatching to all.

 

[Taylorhens]

Lockdown will be Tuesday about noon for me. I'm getting excited!

 

[m.kitchengirl]

well, i sucked it up & candled my ancona duck eggs last night. of the 9 shipped there were 4 that are definitely turning into little quackers & 3 more that look like there may be something happening in there. the air sacks look great, and it was cool to see the 4 definitive veined areas.
3 of the chicken eggs i moved from the homemade incubator had definite embryos, but there were 6 definite quitters, one that was too dark to see & 2 maybes. time to play the waiting game & hope things keep moving along. fingers crossed.

we're in high gear about the chicken coop & duck house/enclosure over here. i can't wait for the setup process to be done & to just enjoy day to day living with our mini flock.

 

[lebentier]

couldn't stand the suspense so i candled a day early. i have 3 more probable quitters, all blue marans. i put them back in the bator for now because they are pretty dark brown and i am not certain. tuesday is lockdown and i will decide then if they stay or get tossed. any advice? when i candled day 7 i could see (barely) veining and movement in them all. now one looks like it quit soon after that-the egg is not very full. the other two have a larger dark mass but nothing moved and no ring. ideas?

 

[Barrdwing]

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Give the possible quitters a little longer; sometimes you'll have eggs that aren't developing as fast as the others due to cool spots in the incubator. If you see a big gas bubble rolling around loose in there, that can be a sign of a dead egg that wants to explode; you can float-test these eggs and if they float really high, you may want to toss them. If there's no gas bubble, then there's no real harm in leaving questionable eggs in the incubator. At this point in candling, you may only see a big dark mass; take that as a good sign, because it often means the embryo is getting bigger and taking up most of the space. When I do my pre-lockdown candling, I'll be looking for that; if I see any that look less "full" than the others, then I'll mark them as questionable. It can be really hard to tell the quitters during this last week! I have had eggs hatch that I didn't expect to. Sometimes when candling I can see the movement and I know I'm OK; other times I just cross my fingers. Good luck!