Incubator Questions

[obsidianembrace]

Okay, calibrating has started. Any suggestions of what to do until I have that back? Should I try the rock thing?

p.s. with Bonnie's eggs outside, should I do anything there? She's still not sitting on them during the whole day. I'm pretty sure she'd sit on them during the night, they sleep in the kennel anyways...

 

[Sweetfolly]

Quote:
She won't sit on them at all (at least, not more than a few hours a day, maybe, just to get in the swing of things) until she has a full clutch. She'll just lay them and leave them in the nest. That's what she's supposed to do. She might lay 17 eggs before she decides to sit on them - but I guarantee she won't go broody and sit on just 4 or 5 eggs full-time. 4 or 5 eggs is hardly worth an entire month of sitting, after all!

 

[holachicka]

I would do the rocks to help narrow your temp swings, but remember they will cause the temp to drop at first until they heat up. Maybe you could set them in the sun for a while so they are warm when you put them in?

Annarie, It's always so sad when you know they were shrink wrapped! It was hard enough on me with the quail, especially because it was my fault, but I can't imagine little duckies, they just have so much more personality!!

 

[obsidianembrace]

Well we think she has 6-9 eggs under her now. When i let them out this morning, she stayed in and is sitting on the eggs and gave me the stink eye when I peeked in at her. I have the feeling that she might stay on them now. We're going out of town for three days tomorrow and we think that maybe we should put the eggs that we have in the 'bator under her and let her finish them. They're close to hatching, if they're going to. Should we do this? If so, will she attack me and how should I put them under her?

Even if these four eggs do hatch, I'm worried that they've had so much temperature fluctuation and not enough humidity that they'll be deformed or something. What do you guys think?

 

[Sweetfolly]

holachicka - It is hard.

I've learned now that my Runners always hatch exactly 2 days early (other duck eggs in the same 'bator hatch right on time, so it's not the temperature, just something with the Runners

), so I have to put them into "lockdown" two days early too.

obsidianembrace - If she's sitting on fresh eggs (she sounds like a young, inexperienced broody who's not quite sure what she's doing yet) DO NOT put the eggs that are due to hatch soon underneath her. When the older eggs hatch, she'll abandon the rest of the eggs in the nest to raise the ducklings - and if she is young and this is her first time being broody, I'd watch her very closely when she has eggs hatching under her - ducks aren't always the best mothers the first time around, and the ducklings could end up trampled or...I hate to even say it, but - eaten.

 

[obsidianembrace]

Ew, eaten! Gross.

Should I start the timer for the egg's due date for a few days ago when she laid the first egg? It's summer here in Utah, and it gets down to maybe 60 at night, colder if it's raining. Should I do anything special for the ducklings when they're hatched? Bring them inside? Of course we'd take out their deeper swimming bucket and have a kiddie pool or something. Would we just monitor when they swim? Or Bonnie could do that? Yes I'm getting ahead of myself, but I like knowing what's going on.

Yes, Bonnie's a first timer, she's probably a year and a half old by now.

What about the eggs in the bator having physical issues when they hatch? Do you think that would be a possibility? And while we're gone, I don't know if we have anyone that can really take care of the bator, and we can't leave it because it's so unstable. And the humidity problems...I don't know what to do.