Hatch Done, What a DISASTER... 2 ducklings, all others lost or culled.

[PineBurrowPeeps]

What didn't anyone tell me that it would impossible to pull myself away from staring in the little window on the bator?!

This is gonna be a long couple days isn't it?

 

[jj ranch]

i did the same too. i always do

when our ducks went through their air sacs they were LOUD the chics werent so loud. not all cheeped but the ones that did

good luck cant wait to see pics

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

Nothing new to report...

I *think* I heard a tiny peep from the bator last night. It was one of those "Am I crazy or did I just hear that?" moments... I waited patiently for it to happen again but it didn't. Maybe it was wishful thinking

 

[miss_jayne]

hurry up duckies!

 

[CindyS]

Do you want something else to do besides look through the window?

take out one of the plugs and press your ear right against the hole, you should hear a ticking sound, if you hear alot of ticking, that means your going to get a good hatch!(pipped ducklings tick when they breath)

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

Hang on... I gotta try that!




I didn't hear anything... But then again my daughter is listening to her new Taylor Swift CD in the other room...


Earlier today my husband heard the peeping and called me over. We sat and listened for a bit and heard it a couple more times.

Waiting, waiting...

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

Oh god here we go... 4 out of 7 eggs are rocking and rolling. One is pipped in the small end of the egg and I'm worried, that's not right is it?

 

[CindyS]

LOL. you need complete silence to hear it, and your ear needs to be pressed right at the hole

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

Morning update:


Last night when I went to bed I had a duckling pipped into the small end of the shell and had it's bill out of a small hole. I watched it for hours and then went to bed.
This morning I rushed downstairs to see if it had made any progress and I found my first duckling had hatched in the night 3/4 out of it's shell but then died

The egg was in clear view of one of my windows and I watched for a long time before deciding that I should remove the dead baby so it doesn't start to decomp in the bator over the next couple of days.
I chewed on how to open the bator very quickly to remove him without fully opening the bator and messing with the hum and everything for my other eggs.
I decided to open the "glass" window in the top of the bator halfway, stick in a pair of chopsticks, and remove the baby up and out of the window. It worked and my hum and temp never moved, I watched it for like 5 minutes after I removed the baby.

So, looking over the dead baby I see why he/she passed away. It had several things deformed and very wrong with it on the outside, let alone on the inside where I can't see. One wing was grown way wrong, a foot was not right, it's head it too large at the top of the skull, etc. Poor little thing, and it tried SO hard to hatch

I have two eggs in there "talking" to eachother now. It is so cute! So, down to 6 and one is in the process of pipping. I have one fiesty little one in there, it will not shut up! It wants out of that egg.


AND yes! This morning in the still of the house with nothing making noise, I pressed my ear up against the vent hole in the bator top and I heard the clicking! How neat is that?!

 

[mcfarlandteresa]

I just set some duck eggs in the bator but am having trouble keeping the humidity above 70. I have 3 cups, 1 bowl and my wells filled. Any thoughts on this? This is my first batch and don't really want to mess it up.