Hands on hatching and help

[ShanandGem]

My problem is there nothing there to ancer it to. What is on the side is the house. On the other side of that is a book shelves. It keeps them dry like shelter. In front of that is more nesting boxes . And there food and water dish. On other side of two book shelves is a block wall. Deer netting is above them. We tried the eggs outside. But weather stop eggs with ants. Last hatch. I gave up and put them in incubator but it didn't go well. These hatch we put dog house in. They like it better but eggs our not developing baby's at all only yolk.one had a tiny baby very new beginning stages. Lost so many eggs. So we wanted to put a light to try and help them. Maybe to cold. It's rained a lot these time. I don't know how to help them. Very worried

I'm really more confused than ever. Are you trying to hatch eggs in a dog house with a heat lamp? Do you have a hen sitting on eggs in the dog house?

 

[AmyLynn2374]

@AmyLynn2374
Love, love, love the pics!! That white one with the dark feathers really has me scratching my head! I've seen darker ones feather in white but never the reverse. Very interesting. And that first grey one has some top hat!! Hoping that one is a girl. Either way it's going to be beautiful. I really like the spitz too. I had never seen one in person until a few weeks ago, it was still a teenager but I loved it! I got a great pic of the duck and my son yesterday. I'll post it here.
No way! Wow. That is a crazy egg!
What are you using the lights for? You can NOT depend on just the clips. They can easily come loose. I used some metal wire and tied the light around a metal lock thingy that was on the coop. I triple layered the wire. I would make sure it's anchored to something.
I was just catching up on the goose incubation thread today. They look like amazing birds to hatch. By day 13 I would think the most you would see is veining. Depending on how easy the shells are to candle you might be able to see the embryo. Just shine the light into the air cell and look under the cell to see the veins. Good luck! Id love to follow your hatch!

I thought for sure it was going to be pure white until it started feathering. Took me by surprise cause it didn't even have a tiny colored spot on it, nt even to think paint. The feathers seem wider too. The gray is the one I sent you the pic of that I had to help zip cause his head was stuck because of the high vault...lol I am thinking it's a boy. It's got quite a wide bridge to the upper beak. I think that's the one...lol Two of them look almost identical.

I'm was supposed to lockdown yesterday with my shipped call eggs. But the air cells seem on the small side so I'm waiting for the first internal pip to up humidity but I stopped turning a couple days ago. 6 were still alive yesterday. All the eggs look so weird except for two. I would think they are all quitters but I learned my lesson on my last batch, plus they are moving around. I'm hoping to give my single call a friend. He is such a good boy (I don't know the sex but think boy). He really loves me and the kids like we are his family. I took this pic yesterday and just love it!

I love this!! Great pic!!! He's (both hes) so cute!!

Question time.....don't you roll your eyes at me!! I can hear that, you know! I candled the 14 eggs in the incubator tonight while I was turning them. Every one of the them looks great. Embryos are all active, veining looks strong and is much more diffuse over the inner surfaces of the eggs than I was used to seeing in the ones I tried hatching before, and two of the 4 slightly floating air cells seem to be firming up very well. Humidity is pretty constant at 40 - 45% and temps look good.

So what could I could possibly be questioning? Um, some of the embryos inside the eggs look much larger than others. Is that normal? I've read that different incubators can have warm spots and cooler spots, so at least once a day when I turn them, I also shift them around so they aren't always in the same place. Should I stop doing that? Or should I just stop looking for monsters to jump out of the closet at me?

I wouldn't worry. Sometime I think it's the positioning and some do grow faster/bigger. As long as they are all growing, breath easy. Did you see my "Blooie" chick in the pics I posted??

 

[tracyjg]

Yes two ducks broody in dog house. Was 25-26 eggs. They had no development the ones that broke open. That I have showed you. The light is to help with eggs. The weather has been raining and damp. When the sun is out its not hitting the eggs. They have been on eggs a lot. They miss my drake though. He got moved a little while back ago. Last hatch I used the incubator the second part of it. But no live ducks . The first hatch of 1 set of eggs was outside in sun/ rain/ wind and ants. Second set in dog house sheltered a little bit. My incubators go crazy. I have not taken time to clean them out good they our sitting out front waiting for my attention . I did these because I want the ducks to do it.

 

[ShanandGem]

Yes two ducks broody in dog house. Was 25-26 eggs. They had no development the ones that broke open. That I have showed you. The light is to help with eggs. The weather has been raining and damp. When the sun is out its not hitting the eggs. They have been on eggs a lot. They miss my drake though. He got moved a little while back ago. Last hatch I used the incubator the second part of it. But no live ducks . The first hatch of 1 set of eggs was outside in sun/ rain/ wind and ants. Second set in dog house sheltered a little bit. My incubators go crazy. I have not taken time to clean them out good they our sitting out front waiting for my attention . I did these because I want the ducks to do it.

If your ducks aren't staying on the eggs nearly all the time you won't see any of them hatch. Do ducks go broody the way chickens do?
If you no longer have a drake are the eggs even fertilized? How long has he been gone?

 

[tracyjg]

Yes ducks sitting on eggs in dog houses. It's not enough. No development in eggs.

 

[WVduckchick]

Question time.....don't you roll your eyes at me!!  I can hear that, you know! I candled the 14 eggs in the incubator tonight while I was turning them.  Every one of the them looks great. Embryos are all active, veining looks strong and is much more diffuse over the inner surfaces of the eggs than I was used to seeing in the ones I tried hatching before, and two of the 4 slightly floating air cells seem to be firming up very well.  Humidity is pretty constant at 40 - 45% and temps look good.  

So what could I could possibly be questioning?  Um, some of the embryos inside the eggs look much larger than others.  Is that normal?  I've read that different incubators can have warm spots and cooler spots, so at least once a day when I turn them, I also shift them around so they aren't always in the same place.  Should I stop doing that?  Or should I just stop looking for monsters to jump out of the closet at me?

I agree with Amy. I'd say you are just seeing the embryos from different depths through all the stuff in there. Some closer to the shell than others.

These are in the Brinsea, right?

And I didn't even roll one eye, thank you.

 

[WildHens]

My problem is there nothing there to ancer it to. What is on the side is the house. On the other side of that is a book shelves. It keeps them dry like shelter. In front of that is more nesting boxes . And there food and water dish. On other side of two book shelves is a block wall. Deer netting is above them. We tried the eggs outside. But weather stop eggs with ants. Last hatch. I gave up and put them in incubator but it didn't go well. These hatch we put dog house in. They like it better but eggs our not developing baby's at all only yolk.one had a tiny baby very new beginning stages. Lost so many eggs. So we wanted to put a light to try and help them. Maybe to cold. It's rained a lot these time. I don't know how to help them. Very worryed

I would pull a few eggs (at least 6-8) as they are laid.. incubate those all together in the incubator from the start, don't give mom a chance to start them. If you're still having the same results then you know your issue lies in your stock or management. If they develop normally with (mostly) no issues, then you know the issue is either the mom or environment
ETA:
It's rained 17 out of the last 20 days here and I've had hens hatch chicks with no issue, so assuming with ducklings, rain isn't your problem unless the nests themselves are wet.
If your birds are older or younger, that could be an issue. Make sure the nest are clean and dry..may have to raise the actual nest off the ground am inch or so and put up a rim with a small board to keep rain and moisture from blowing in.. maybe sprinkle some DE in the bottom of the nest before bedding to help absorb excess moisture. What do you use for bedding? I think I'd take the light out completely. .our days are long enough at his time of year, and she shouldn't need extra heat

 

[WVduckchick]

I would pull a few eggs (at least 6-8) as they are laid.. incubate those all together in the incubator from the start, don't give mom a chance to start them. If you're still having the same results then you know your issue lies in your stock or management. If they develop normally with (mostly) no issues, then you know the issue is either the mom or environment

Sounds like a great idea to me!

 

[WildHens]

Yes two ducks broody in dog house. Was 25-26 eggs. They had no development the ones that broke open. That I have showed you. The light is to help with eggs. The weather has been raining and damp. When the sun is out its not hitting the eggs. They have been on eggs a lot. They miss my drake though. He got moved a little while back ago. Last hatch I used the incubator the second part of it. But no live ducks . The first hatch of 1 set of eggs was outside in sun/ rain/ wind and ants. Second set in dog house sheltered a little bit. My incubators go crazy. I have not taken time to clean them out good they our sitting out front waiting for my attention . I did these because I want the ducks to do it.

Also, if you've got 2 girls in the same house and nest, the eggs are probably getting bumped around, new eggs laid with okd, etc..they need separate nests and houses, and you need to mark each egg in the nest..every couple of days or when ever she is off the nest, remove any eggs that aren't marked. You may be seeing eggs that are incubated and fresh eggs at the same time

 

[WVduckchick]

Also, if you've got 2 girls in the same house and nest, the eggs are probably getting bumped around, new eggs laid with okd, etc..they need separate nests and houses, and you need to mark each egg in the nest..every couple of days or when ever she is off the nest, remove any eggs that aren't marked. You may be seeing eggs that are incubated and fresh eggs at the same time

That brings up a question for me. I have a duck that I decided to let try to sit. She's got 12-13 eggs now, but is only sitting about half the day. She wanders around most of the evening. I marked the first 8 eggs, but haven't marked since. I was thinking of removing the older eggs.

Darnit, just checked and she's off the nest now. Maybe she is still adding to it? What would you suggest?