first time incubating

[chickenlittle84]

Haha I just looked again and he's not just moving, he's flapping his bill super fast like the other ducklings do when they're looking for food or grabbing at my hands. Guess he's strengthening up for the big hatch. So cute! Lol

 

[chickenlittle84]

Omg! Definitely just heard a squeaky " pip, pip" sound from the incubator. He's for sure vocalizing now. It was loud enough that I could tell where it came from

 

[WVduckchick]

Yeah! Come on little fella!!!

I'll tell you the story of mine that pipped low like that. He pipped on a Saturday afternoon, so I was sure he would be out sometime over the weekend. His pip was also low and I had another one in the bator that had just hatched. The other one kept pecking at his exposed bill! I kept telling him to pull it inside the shell, but he didn't listen! lol So by Sunday evening, he still hadn't hatched, but he had pulled his little bill back in so the other girl couldn't get to it. She rolled him all over that incubator! Sat on top of him for a while too. So Monday morning, over 36 hours, still not out. I went to work, but had already decided if he wasn't out when I got home, I was going to have to help. I couldn't stand it... I left work at noon, and ran into the house, and there laid 2 beautiful little ducklings. He did it without my help. I was only gone for around 4 hours, and as dry as he was, I'm guessing he had been out for an hour or two. So I didn't get to watch my last one hatch, but I was so relieved!

 

[chickenlittle84]

I really hope I don't miss this one hatching. I've never seen an egg hatch before so I'll be soooo disappointed if I'm not here. Im hoping he waits till my son gets home so he can watch too.

 

[chickenlittle84]

I'll definitely be relieved once he's out! I had no idea this would take soooo long!

 

[WVduckchick]

Yes, ducks take a while! My last hatch of chicks was much quicker.
Here is Opie sitting on top of Chibs. The hole in Chibs' egg is just between Opie's butt and leg.


And here they are last week! The two with the most white.


I'm just trying to keep you occupied while you wait!

 

[chickenlittle84]

It kinda looks like hes trying to come out through the hole instead of unzipping. Just keeps pushing his bill out further and further, then resting. I can see the air cell membrane is really bulging almost filling the empty space. I guess If he had of pipped that way he would have had extra space to turn around.

 

[chickenlittle84]

Awww beautiful birds they grew into and the duckling sitting on the egg, thats too cute!

So the ones with markings are born that way and the solid white ones are yellow as babies, right? I have 3 yellow ducklings that came from an all white mother, but the one in the egg looks like he has some darker patches on him.

 

[chickenlittle84]

The membrane around his bill is turning tan colored. Is it OK to use vegetable oil to moisten it at this point or should I still use water?

 

[WVduckchick]

He should use that hole as the starting point for his zip, so it should be fine. Since he has a big enough hole for his beak to get out, a dab of water here and there is fine. It doesn't have to stay super wet. Basically just enough to keep it from drying out and getting stuck to his feathers, and impeding his ability to rotate in the shell.

I love my babies. They are about 10 weeks old now. What is white on them all now started out yellow. So even the blacker ones chests were slightly yellow. Not stark yellow like the whiter ones, it was more finely mixed, so it didn't look quite so yellow. The one on top of the egg is the one on the left in the lower pic. The whitest one is inside the egg lol

This one they were a couple weeks old, I think...


This is the one that has more white on her chest now. But she lost most of the white on her head where it looked yellow as a baby.


This one is the darkest now. Just a little white on his chest.