Hatching Muscovy ducks

[critters]

your little one should be fine in the bator for 3-4 days...
and patience is the name of the game now...

(I always add a small dish of extra water for my hatches
in case they seem to take too long....I worry about
shrink wrapping the little guys...so for your next batch
you may consider the extra water then too...)

Good luck and we want to see pics please!

 

[DrChickenKev]

Pics loaded.. dont know where?!

 

[DrChickenKev]

Ok, I'm planning on moving her today for two reasons;

She's fluffed up enough, its been just over 50 hrs since she hatched and she is now pecking at the thermometer and so must be needing water...?

The two water vessels within the incubator (Brinsea Octagon 10) are near empty so need refilling for the remaning 4 eggs...?

I'm aware of over-doing the humidity but might put in a damp sponge to raise humidity???

Any thoughts anyone???

So nerve-racking not knowing...

 

[DrChickenKev]

Oh just thought what to feed her??? Ground up layers pellets? Bit of cold porridge?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
you need chick starter/grower. they shouldn't have layer way to much calcium. If you don't have chick food till you get some try ginding some oatmeal.

 

[DrChickenKev]

Yuh, also wasn't sure whether our layers were medicated or not as I know medicated is not good news for wildfowl

Have been advised that mashed up boiled egg yolk is fine for first three days as well?

I've also uploaded some pics from my profil page but dont know where they are?

How do you load into a message here??

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=1198 this should help you. Forgot about egg yolk yep good for a few days.

 

[DrChickenKev]

Thanks for that, posted in new post for all to see...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=7690126#p7690126

So she is now in the brooder, will upload some pics of that soon... she has water but no food just now, and will try and get some non-medicated crumb tomorrow...

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
just saw her, adorable...

 

[DrChickenKev]

Update:

So we are now on day 4 of lockdown; had to take the first duckling out as she was getting on for 3 days and thought she would need some water, and the two water vessels in the Octagon 10 incubator were getting very low...

Anyway, I know its likely that we lost a lot of humidity, but filled up the two water containers to almost full hoping that the humidity would go up, however, there is no much movement in the level of water going down, temp is at 37.5C (around 99 F?). It has two vent holes and I've closed one.

I thought I saw one of the eggs moving yesterday, but now wondering whether my eyes were just going funny from staring too long...

So, do I leave them and hope? One duckling is a bit sad on her own...
Do I take them ou and candle the remaining eggs, risking losing any humidity build up?

Arrggghhhhhhhh...!!!!!

[Pics of our first duckling (Jools) on another thread]