Hands on hatching and help

[WVduckchick]

I know age is what ruined my last hatch.. out of this:

I got 6 chicks...and according to cells..they were mostly 10+ days when set

I'm curious to see if the older LO eggs I gave you will start, but we both knew it was a long shot. I do think it's a valuable experiment though.

Did my day 14 candling last night, and overall am feeling more and more optimistic that Katie will get her Silkies!  Eggs are so dark I can't really make out any detail in them anymore, and most of the dancing inside the eggs has stopped - although if I held an egg perfectly still and waited a couple of seconds I could see subtle shifts in the shadowing on the inside at times.

Air cells are always going to be my nemesis I think.  First eggs I tried to hatch I had every variety of bad air cells you can name.  And they all had one thing in common....they were large.  Large and floating, large and loose, large and saddled......and some had more than one issue.  We only managed to get 3 chicks out of 39 eggs.  Not so good!  This time around there were eggs shipped from @RubyNala97
 that were so fresh the air cells were invisible - couldn't even see them!  The air cells in those we could see were small.  Out of 16 eggs, 4 had air cells (on day 7 candling) that were loose on one side, just a very small area, so I put them in carton compartments and within a few days they were firmed back up - the only way to tell which ones they were was by the dotted line where they were loose.  (Someone, and I wish I could remember who to give proper credit) suggested that when tracing the air cells, make the line solid where the cell was solid and dotted where it was loose). 

I kept my humidity at the 40-45% recommended by @RubyNala97
.  Amy also incubates her Silkie eggs a little higher as well.  When I candled last night the cells still look kinda small to me....but are they really or am I just used to seeing huge cells because of my first shipped eggs?   I dunno.  I do see changes in the lines, so maybe I'll just keep a sharp eye on them and reduce the humidity a bit, to between 35 and 40%.  

Note:  Candling has been invaluable to me.  Re the comparison between candling and ultrasounds, my daughter had cancer when she was expecting her daughter.  She found out when she went in for her first exam and refused to allow them to end the pregnancy to treat her.   She had ultra sounds every week to monitor Little Diane's progress and keep an eye on the size of the tumor. Not one ill effect on the baby or my daughter.  We knew our special little Kendra would be born with Spina Bifida, so my daughter-in-law had ultrasounds every week for 7 weeks, then twice a week for the last month of her pregnancy.  Again, no ill effects for mom or baby, and without that ability to closely monitor both babies we could have had totally different outcomes with them both.  All I'm sayin'.

So glad the silkies are doing good for you.

I believe it was @FridayYet that I first saw with the dotted lines. I did it with my last hatch on some strange looking areas around the air cell.

If you can get Katie to help you candle, and take a pic of the air cell, we might be able to help you gage of humidity needs lowered a bit. Otherwise, go with your gut. I know you are gonna get some cute fluffies out of this set!

 

[RubyNala97]

They're impossible not to love, aren't they? Especially a loner...

They dug into the damp mulch to lay those, so please excuse the slightly darkened shell... they're clean of poo, and I brushed them off, just some healthy growing base, lol...

I don't mind at all. I've heard several times that duck eggs are always dirty. And I can see why considering I clean the brooder 2-3 times a day!! I wanted to ask you, at what age can I put a couple feeder fish in the tub for the duck to eat them? And a quick cute story...my son had a friend over last night and of course they wanted to play with the duckling. So we all sat on the floor and he's so used to kids I didn't think he'd even notice that one of the kids was a new person. Well, boy did he notice! He ran and buried his head in my arm when the little boy tried to pet him...twice! He really must know us each individually! It was so cute.

I told her the exact same thing..told her how badly I wanted to "express myself" but since I was new to the thread I didn't want to come in sounding like some complete crazy..
So I just politely said what I thought and bit my tongue til it bled.. and still am.. I have no filter and I'm afraid once I open the dam, there will be no closing it again

You and Amy will get along great!!

Just to check you guys think I'm doing the right thing....

My Muscovy duck was sitting on a solitary egg (long story) but unfortunately my mother in law didn't realise the egg was incubating so removed it from the nest after about 18-19 days. She was off it for four hours and abandoned the nest so I put it in the incubator. We are now at day 38 and still no hatch. I know our temps were a little low during the last couple of weeks as my brinsea was poorly calibrated but it's running around 37C now. I made a viewing window and periodically I see movement and it looks to have drawn down the membrane too. Nothing to be done at this stage yet, right? There's no internal pip. I worry it's been too long now and it'll be a weak duckling inside that egg.

Can you post a pic? That's a really over due egg, right? There's nothing you can really do at this point but wait. Can you still see veins in the membrane? Some people will break the membrane and pull the beak out but that's something that I've never done successfully and is extremely risky.

Looking for advice. I'm new to the group. I've been following, but I just now joined to post. I have an early baby. Pipped 24hrs ago. Not much progress and she's quiet. I've kept the humidity up. Using the HDD 7 egg incubator. Today is day 21.4 eggs in the bator. Do I provide assistance to the early bird? Adding more water perks her back up? She is pipped through the top side of the broad end, through the air sac. I'm torn on helping. I just pulled away the little bits she had broken loose and rubbed water on the shell.

[/IMG]

If I were you, I would probably give it a few more hours. Since its early and the first egg I would probably not intervene until it passed the 30 hour mark. But that's just me. You have to decide when you feel it's necessary to intervene. Are these local or shipped?

I'm really disappointed in my bought eggs. I think I am only going to get one chick from a dozen eggs, with a ton of late quitters.  One pipped internally yesterday and then died within a couple of hours.  The only one that has hatched needed a ton of help.  All three of my own eggs that I set are hatching so it can't be the incubator.
I think from now on I will buy chicks and only hatch my own.  Can't take the heartbreak!

You never know what eggs have been through when you buy from strangers. How did the air cells look? What breed were they? I hope you at least get a few more!

In other news:  I lockdown these green eggs on Monday. They better all be hatched out by Thursday night, because I am leaving Friday for a much needed weekend away!! My oldest sister, (the one that got me into the chicken "thing") is going to come and stay with dad and take care of the coops, and brooders. She's also taking these hatchers back with us as I am hatching for her. 

Did my day 14 candling last night, and overall am feeling more and more optimistic that Katie will get her Silkies!  Eggs are so dark I can't really make out any detail in them anymore, and most of the dancing inside the eggs has stopped - although if I held an egg perfectly still and waited a couple of seconds I could see subtle shifts in the shadowing on the inside at times.

Air cells are always going to be my nemesis I think.  First eggs I tried to hatch I had every variety of bad air cells you can name.  And they all had one thing in common....they were large.  Large and floating, large and loose, large and saddled......and some had more than one issue.  We only managed to get 3 chicks out of 39 eggs.  Not so good!  This time around there were eggs shipped from @RubyNala97
 that were so fresh the air cells were invisible - couldn't even see them!  The air cells in those we could see were small.  Out of 16 eggs, 4 had air cells (on day 7 candling) that were loose on one side, just a very small area, so I put them in carton compartments and within a few days they were firmed back up - the only way to tell which ones they were was by the dotted line where they were loose.  (Someone, and I wish I could remember who to give proper credit) suggested that when tracing the air cells, make the line solid where the cell was solid and dotted where it was loose). 

I kept my humidity at the 40-45% recommended by @RubyNala97
.  Amy also incubates her Silkie eggs a little higher as well.  When I candled last night the cells still look kinda small to me....but are they really or am I just used to seeing huge cells because of my first shipped eggs?   I dunno.  I do see changes in the lines, so maybe I'll just keep a sharp eye on them and reduce the humidity a bit, to between 35 and 40%.  

Note:  Candling has been invaluable to me.  Re the comparison between candling and ultrasounds, my daughter had cancer when she was expecting her daughter.  She found out when she went in for her first exam and refused to allow them to end the pregnancy to treat her.   She had ultra sounds every week to monitor Little Diane's progress and keep an eye on the size of the tumor. Not one ill effect on the baby or my daughter.  We knew our special little Kendra would be born with Spina Bifida, so my daughter-in-law had ultrasounds every week for 7 weeks, then twice a week for the last month of her pregnancy.  Again, no ill effects for mom or baby, and without that ability to closely monitor both babies we could have had totally different outcomes with them both.  All I'm sayin'.

Blooie, post a pic of the traced air cells. If there's not much growth on the 14th day, I usually wait one more day and recheck and a lot of times they look good by then. If not, drop your humidity a little and recheck in a few days. How many are still going?

 

[RubyNala97]

So my hatch is almost over. I did an experiment with this hatch to compare results to my last hatch. Both batches were my own eggs, in the octagon 20. Similar temps and humidity on both. First set was put into the rails and I used the cradle. 15/20 hatched. This time I did not use the rails or the cradle. (I suspected that they were not getting turned sufficiently since they are small eggs and kept slipping to the side in the rails). I laid the eggs down with an "x" and "o"'and hand turned 5xday. So far 27/29 are hatched and number 28 is internally pipped. Very thick, dark shell and it's been internally pipped since yesterday. So if no progress by this evening I'm going to make a safety hole. Number 29 looks like it quit day 19-ish. I'm happier with these results. I'll get some pics today.

 

[WVduckchick]

That's awesome Ruby!

 

[tracyjg]

Sometimes I leave them in there at least 24 hrs. But if there really bad I leave them 72 hrs. If there the only one I leave them 7 days and add foods and water but note it's gets messy and you have a smelly mess or humidity issues.

 

[RubyNala97]

Quick question...I realize this is not the right thread...but I also have a broody hatching chicks right now and they just hatched this morning and they are leaving the nest and venturing into the coop. I found two of them in the coop. One was a foot away and the other was 2 feet away from mom. But there is a lip on the nest box and they can't get back under mom. I'm planning on moving them and her but not all the eggs are done hatching. Shouldn't they stay under her at this point?!?

 

[tracyjg]

The ducks can't get out of shell they don't break the shell. Why would I put a hole in a egg that didn't open buy itself. Wouldn't I be making it worse it wasn't ready or not going to hatch any way you put it. You don't help in Wild. They do it on there own or the mother helps correct. My understanding of it.

 

[tracyjg]

I wouldn't move it. I would just fix the nesting box quickly and slowly to allow mom to care for all of them. Other might move them.

 

[WildHens]

Quick question...I realize this is not the right thread...but I also have a broody hatching chicks right now and they just hatched this morning and they are leaving the nest and venturing into the coop. I found two of them in the coop. One was a foot away and the other was 2 feet away from mom. But there is a lip on the nest box and they can't get back under mom. I'm planning on moving them and her but not all the eggs are done hatching. Shouldn't they stay under her at this point?!?

You would think..lol..mine usually stay about 12 to 18 hours and then they're gone....

 

[WildHens]

The ducks can't get out of shell they don't break the shell. Why would I put a hole in a egg that didn't open buy itself. Wouldn't I be making it worse it wasn't ready or not going to hatch any way you put it. You don't help in Wild. They do it on there own or the mother helps correct. My understanding of it.

They are not in the wild..they are hatching in artificial incubation. . And if not using quotes, at least state a name to whom you are replying. .no one can follow who's being told what