I ordered call duck eggs to set under my broody little call duck. We checked a few days ago and she apparently made a nest and is sitting on her own eggs, we aren't sure if they are fertile or not because we had to rehome our Pekin drake a month ago. I don't even know if a Pekin can mate with a call duck but he tried with our chickens so I wouldn't put it past him trying lol. It turns out she hid 13 eggs and has been sitting on them for about 2 weeks. The eggs I ordered should be arriving this week and there should be atleast 18 of them. My fear is that if her eggs are fertile and hatch she will give up on the new eggs and leave them. I plan to candle her eggs but I'm not sure what I'd see at this point. We have decided to bring out the incubator and try hatching the new eggs ourselves. It has been awhile so I have a few questions. I have read previous posts and taken notes but these concerns weren't addressed so I thought I'd ask.
1. My bator has been in storage for about a year (hubby's doing grr!) how do I clean it, inspect & prepare it to make sure it will do the job?
2. What is the longest I can wait before adding the eggs to the incubator? I ask only because I don't know the eggs exact arrival date yet and how long it will take me to clean & prepare my bator for the eggs.
3. Once they are incubating, which days are days I should be candling the eggs and do you have a webpage I can look to as a reference as to what I should be seeing on those days?
4. What are the best ways to add/remove water to adjust humidity? In the past I had a syringe attached to a small tube that laid on the bottom of the bator, I used it to add or remove water, will this work? Other suggestions?
5. My last hatch was a few years ago. I remember something about adding pennies to the bottom for sterility or something, should I do this? What is the reason, Iam taking notes on all of this incase this ever happens again.
Thank you for any and all advice. I will update as this all unfolds lol
1. My bator has been in storage for about a year (hubby's doing grr!) how do I clean it, inspect & prepare it to make sure it will do the job?
2. What is the longest I can wait before adding the eggs to the incubator? I ask only because I don't know the eggs exact arrival date yet and how long it will take me to clean & prepare my bator for the eggs.
3. Once they are incubating, which days are days I should be candling the eggs and do you have a webpage I can look to as a reference as to what I should be seeing on those days?
4. What are the best ways to add/remove water to adjust humidity? In the past I had a syringe attached to a small tube that laid on the bottom of the bator, I used it to add or remove water, will this work? Other suggestions?
5. My last hatch was a few years ago. I remember something about adding pennies to the bottom for sterility or something, should I do this? What is the reason, Iam taking notes on all of this incase this ever happens again.
Thank you for any and all advice. I will update as this all unfolds lol
