Incubators Anonymous

[ozexpat]

Getting the Flock Out of Here II - The Mother Lode

Its T-3 days until take off and the second phase of my crazy plan is upon us.

This morning I received 8 emails with tracking numbers. Cloacae all over the United States of America have been depositing Calcium Carbonated embryos big end first into nests for the last few days. The owners of the owners of these Cloaca have been diligently collecting the eggs, storing them carefully, turning them appropriately and packaging them carefully. Today, they place them in the hands of people in sky blue and grey uniforms who will lob, pass, punt and dropkick them into the delivery system known as the USPS.

May God have mercy on those embryos

 

[Overoberyl]

I had no idea they came out big end first! Just never thought about it...

 

[ozexpat]

I had no idea they came out big end first! Just never thought about it...

the things you can learn on byc

 

[GreenGirlGrammy]

every now and then you come across a thread worth sharing

this one is a gem

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/750468/new-australian-hatching-mystery-egg-at-home

This Australian mystery egg thread was so awesome to follow. It amazed me that she just plopped it in a glass bowl with some cotton balls and a lamp. Lord I'm worried sick right now that I've lost 100 eggs in my fortress of bells and whistles. (Storms, power outage.) I'm headed into the evening of the 21st day and have only 3 very weak little crack pips. It's going to be a long night.

 

[ozexpat]

This Australian mystery egg thread was so awesome to follow. It amazed me that she just plopped it in a glass bowl with some cotton balls and a lamp. Lord I'm worried sick right now that I've lost 100 eggs in my fortress of bells and whistles. (Storms, power outage.) I'm headed into the evening of the 21st day and have only 3 very weak little crack pips. It's going to be a long night.

i have my chicken toes crossed for you

 

[Overoberyl]

Hey IA peeps, need some advice...I am about to set my first duck eggs, I dry incubate all of my chicken eggs, and have been having very good hatches. Do you all think I should do this with the duck eggs also? I was planning to set them in the same bator with my chicken eggs, so I'm not thrilled about the idea of having to mist them after about 7 days...but I don't want to totally ruin them by keeping them too dry. Does dry incubating work with duck eggs also, or do they really need to be at much higher humidity?

Thanks!!

 

[ChickNmamma]

Hey IA peeps, need some advice...I am about to set my first duck eggs, I dry incubate all of my chicken eggs, and have been having very good hatches. Do you all think I should do this with the duck eggs also? I was planning to set them in the same bator with my chicken eggs, so I'm not thrilled about the idea of having to mist them after about 7 days...but I don't want to totally ruin them by keeping them too dry. Does dry incubating work with duck eggs also, or do they really need to be at much higher humidity?

Thanks!!

From my understanding duck and chicken eggs can be treated the same. Goose eggs are the ones that need misting and cool-down times. I have not hatched any though...

 

[Overoberyl]

From my understanding duck and chicken eggs can be treated the same. Goose eggs are the ones that need misting and cool-down times. I have not hatched any though...

Thanks! I've been trying to find info about how to do it, it's just very mixed, some people say they need to be higher, some say they can dry incubate, I think I'll probably just put them in with my other eggs and see how they do. It's just that my humidity in my bators is usually at around 20% so if there was no chance of them surviving that, I didn't want to totally waste the eggs.

 

[ChickNmamma]

Quote:
You can weigh the eggs periodically and see if they are loosing too much weight/humidity and change it if necessary. That will tell you exactly what they need. I heard it was 30%, but as you said, everybody does it a bit differently.. you have to find out what works for you.

 

[maryhysong]

Candled everything in the bator tonight; whew! a lot of eggs! most of them looked pretty good; pulled a few clears and have a couple questionable ones I left in there for a bit longer.

What's left:
12 Muscovy duck. due April 21
9 Welsh Harlequin duck due April 14
46 EE and OE due April 7
7 Welsh Harlequin due April 21
29 EE & OE due April 14

And crazy chicken lady that I am, I set another 33 eggs!
6 WH duck due April 27
27 EE & OE due April 20

so that's ....... OMG! ......136 EGGS!