Incubating and Uncharted Territory

[Tavia Rose]

I have plenty of eggs with a seemingly broody Brown Leghorn and 4 other laying hens. I came home after getting up to 9 eggs from 1 hen with 2 missing ( i blame the ducks bc there was nothing to be found), and one cracked. So, i decided to bring them in. I'm out on short term disability due to a spinal surgery and I'm not getting paychecks so all I currently have is a bucket, a light, a heating pad, some zip lock bags full of water with holes punched in the top of them, a bowl in the bottom filled with water, a water bottle, and a thermometer. I live in Tx and it's currently pretty humid. The cracked egg; I modge podged with some tissue before incubating started. It's a brown egg and candling shows it to be porous but, I can see a bit if change in it so for now, I'm leaving it. Since, I've moved the eggs, all 12 of them, my Weslsummer/Brown Leghorn (can't tell the difference) has been caught being broody so I left the rest outside. This will kind of be a man vs nature experiment. I want these babies to hatch and have already grown fond of them..but not in an unnecessary way. I know animals can't always survive. But, i do want to find out if the variables are what matters or the embryos being predestined and built to survive. The first day or two I had to turn my homemade incubator off during the day because we were gone. The eggs temperature was around 74. Well, here are the results on Day 5. For the white eggs that I could actually candle and see..there are 3..and they all have heartbeats and movement is fluid. I've been turning them at least twice a day..temp has fluctuated between 92°F and 107 (I know but it's never for long). The Brown ones I can see the blood vessels and yolk but not much else. That mother was really rough on those eggs and hadn't sat on them at all for 9 days. Below I'm including a video of the heartbeat of one of the eggs and a Day 5 candling. As well as the setup and the dirty modge podged egg that was buried and broken by the birds. To be safe, I may end up buying a real incubator because I go back to work after this week, and at that stage I'm very unsure about leaving them colder all day.

Video: (Sorry I have shaky nerves but, you can still see the pulse)

 

[Tlmcq]

I started my first incubation last weekend. So far I've found 4 that were not fertile... wasn't sure if they were from the start due to my guys having trouble mating my big pekin girl. I replaced those 4 with 3 chicken eggs and another duck egg yesterday..I can see development in the 2 eggs I started with waiting to check ones put in yesterday.

 

[Tavia Rose]

I have a pekin too who moves and runs as soon as my mallard tries to mount her. Perkins aren't too keen on mating it seems? I hope your babies grow and prosper. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Tavia Rose]

I started my first incubation last weekend. So far I've found 4 that were not fertile... wasn't sure if they were from the start due to my guys having trouble mating my big pekin girl. I replaced those 4 with 3 chicken eggs and another duck egg yesterday..I can see development in the 2 eggs I started with waiting to check ones put in yesterday.

How is everything still going? I lost 4. I finally had to sell some stock and bought a real incubator, cheap one;Little Giant brand.Lost the cracked one and two others. One had a blood ring and stopped developing at it looks like day 5 or 6. The other died at around day 8 or 10. And, I have one stinky one that I moved to my homemade incubator just in case i'm wrong, it hadn't oozed yet but the other ones are still going strong at least.

 

[Tlmcq]

I had 3 that weren't fertilized. One I lost about day 8 or so with blood ring. I am concerned about another with blood ring now, but you can see lil duck in there so I'm giving it couple more days to be sure. I also reset a few in different incubator as other cheap one I had wasn't maintaining proper humidity and temp was iffy. I actually converted a styrofoam cooler into a incubator using the lil cheap one as my thermostat and heat source. It's maintaining temp and humidity great now. Of the ones I reset all but one seems to be fertile and developing.

 

[Tavia Rose]

I had 3 that weren't fertilized. One I lost about day 8 or so with blood ring. I am concerned about another with blood ring now, but you can see lil duck in there so I'm giving it couple more days to be sure. I also reset a few in different incubator as other cheap one I had wasn't maintaining proper humidity and temp was iffy. I actually converted a styrofoam cooler into a incubator using the lil cheap one as my thermostat and heat source. It's maintaining temp and humidity great now. Of the ones I reset all but one seems to be fertile and developing.

Oh man, you win some you lose some. I've been afraid all day because I'm back at work. But, i calibrated that incubator all weekend just hoping it doesn't flip out while I'm gone. Glad you have some still going strong. Wish you luck.

 

[Tlmcq]

Oh man, you win some you lose some. I've been afraid all day because I'm back at work. But, i calibrated that incubator all weekend just hoping it doesn't flip out while I'm gone. Glad you have some still going strong. Wish you luck.

Thank. Good luck to you too!

 

[Tlmcq]

Well, I candled tonight and I have 2 definite live babies. They were going crazy in there trying to avoid the light. One duck one chick. The other chick is dark egg and I can't quite tell yet. One is iffy but it is about 5 days farther along than rest. And one duck egg that just went in yesterday so I didn't bother it.

 

[Tavia Rose]

Today is so sad for me, yesterday I pretty much cried myself to sleep. I have/had two full term eggs. I found the Rhode Island Red eggs were all duds only one of them stank. I took it outside after 4 days of an odd smell; being afraid of killing a chicken, and finally opened it to find a light green yolk and lots of watery runny mess. One of the small brown ones, don't know who laid those, is left and the small white one that I've taken video of since it's beginning has died. It was last moving on the 26th and looked way larger than a day 15 chick. There was one strong vein in the bottom. This chick seemed to have so much heart and I became attached, I cannot lie. The darker eggs I couldn't ever see much until now. The little one was moving inside yesterday on 9/28. I had to go back to work and I've been monitoring temp and humidity from home using a webcam and everything has been within it's ranges until yesterday the power went out for a few hours. The incubator temp dropped, we are in Central Texas, so it's still pretty warm. But, it probably just wasn't meant. I haven't opened it bc I am dragging it out. I see veins in the top. I noticed the egg felt lighter when I picked it up yesterday. I see nothing moving but the jelly like stuff right below the air cell. The aircell had also grown. But,this baby never stopped moving. That's why I am pretty sure it's dead.

 

[Tavia Rose]

Well, I candled tonight and I have 2 definite live babies. They were going crazy in there trying to avoid the light. One duck one chick. The other chick is dark egg and I can't quite tell yet. One is iffy but it is about 5 days farther along than rest. And one duck egg that just went in yesterday so I didn't bother it.

Yay, I had two..just posted an update.