Gonna incubate some call duck eggs

[gryeyes]

I am going to launch into scary territory here; I just won an eBay auction for 4 call duck eggs.

(Just think, if any do hatch for me, I'll have the cutest little duckies to add to my bonded Cayuga pair. Dunno if that's smart, but I have always had trouble holding back on impulsive actions.)

Advice, anybody? Comments? Chastisement? (Is that a word?)

 

[love_a_duck]

that's what i say! and add:

pics of the cayuga pair?


beth
vicarious duck owner

 

[duckluck]

Just a wish for good luck...they are tough to hatch. I do well with them but Calls are the only poultry I work with. Good luck!

 

[gryeyes]

Quote:
Louie and Thelma in their pool (300 gallon stock tank).

Bottoms up!

Louie and Thelma Cayuga.

 

[love_a_duck]

Quote:
Louie and Thelma in their pool (300 gallon stock tank).
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/41679_p1000448.jpg

Bottoms up!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/41679_p1000449.jpg

Louie and Thelma Cayuga.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/41679_louie-thelmaundertrees.jpg

wow! they are beautiful!
bottoms up.

can cayugas handle cold cold winters?
they are so lovely.

beth

 

[easttxchick]

Quote:
My last hatch was my most successful and this is what I did differently:
Kept my humidity jacked WAY up all through the hatch(70% or better) and I misted the eggs EVERY time I turned them with a spray bottle. Also turned them 4 times a day(didn't roll them, turned them big end over small end) and hatched 4 out of 5. Not bad for Calls!

 

[judyc]

Wow! I'm going to try that!


Thanks!

 

[gryeyes]

Okay, the eggs have arrived and I set them late last night, in my Brinsea MiniAdvance EX incubator (along with two of my Cayuga's eggs). I set the humidity high, 63% and the turner will move the eggs every 90 minutes. Easttxchick suggested 70% or higher and that sort of made me nervous. I am willing to raise it to 70% for the first 25 days, if that really does seem to be a good idea.

I'm excited! Those little call eggs are so CUTE next to Thelma's big ol' honkin' Cayuga eggs!

 

[I<3maura]

Good luck with the eggs! My youngest daughter is the Call Duck enthusiast here and her hatch rate was in the 90 - 95% range this spring. We have a Genesis Hovabator, circulating air model, and left the temperature at the factory setting. We opted to turn the eggs by hand, 3 to 4 times a day, end over end. We do not have a humidistat so I cannot tell you the humidity %, but we did keep more than half of the wells in the bator full of water. We stopped turning at 23 days and misted the eggs several times a day.

Now the tricky part: we had to help more than half of the ducklings hatch. We candled a couple times a day in those last couple days, handling the eggs very carefully. Once the babies pipped internally, we gave them no more than 24 hours to pip the shell. If they did not, we gave them an air hole using a wood screw in the air sac area. If they were still having trouble breaking through the shell and "zipping", we would use the wood screw to gently chip away at a zip line, again, within the air sac area. If you ever see blood, stop! We never broke away more than 1/4 to 1/2 inch line of shell at a time. Some needed more help than others. We don't consider ourselves experts, but this is what worked for us. They were all on their way to hatching on day 26 but some took more than a day to get out.

They are the cutest babies and it's like holding air! Ours were hatched in the basement and my daughter would put water in a storage tub for them to swim. She made an island of floor tiles and they would have a blast diving off. It doesn't take long for them make a mess and a stink so they moved outside as soon as the weather permitted.

Good Luck!

 

[duckluck]

Look at that cute little ducky!

This is why we put up with the mess of raising the babies, at least in part...to see little faces like that one!