Incubators Anonymous

[Chick a dee1023]

Can someone help me out? I am hatching duckling eggs for the first time (choc/fawn/white runners). I got 3 eggs yesterday that are about 2 weeks along (under mom up until the last day, then in her incubator for the day til i picked them up). We candled when we got home and from what i could tell from a bit of research all was well. Then I woke up and my incubator had dropped temp to 93 degrees. I made a thread asking if they'd be ok, and people said they should be. We candled again today to just make sure (I have 4 kids who are so excited for our new baby ducklings), DH and I are pretty sure one may be dead, but I want to be sure before we toss it and tell the kids.... It looks like there's blood in the egg and I don't see movement like I do in the other 2..... is my poor baby dead???? If so, does anyone know where I can get 1 or 2 fertile runner duck eggs or day old ducklings cheap???? I cant afford the crazy cost for ordering just 1 or 2 from a hatchery, and the farm I got them from sold me her only 3 fertile eggs. Thanks! Sorry this is so long lol, I wanted to explain the situation and am a newby to all of this. (we have 3 week old chicks we got as day olds, not sure what they are yet, and the 3, possibly 2, ducklings we are trying so hard to incubate) Thanks again!

 

[Flowerbh]

Can someone help me out? I am hatching duckling eggs for the first time (choc/fawn/white runners). I got 3 eggs yesterday that are about 2 weeks along (under mom up until the last day, then in her incubator for the day til i picked them up). We candled when we got home and from what i could tell from a bit of research all was well. Then I woke up and my incubator had dropped temp to 93 degrees. I made a thread asking if they'd be ok, and people said they should be. We candled again today to just make sure (I have 4 kids who are so excited for our new baby ducklings), DH and I are pretty sure one may be dead, but I want to be sure before we toss it and tell the kids.... It looks like there's blood in the egg and I don't see movement like I do in the other 2..... is my poor baby dead???? If so, does anyone know where I can get 1 or 2 fertile runner duck eggs or day old ducklings cheap???? I cant afford the crazy cost for ordering just 1 or 2 from a hatchery, and the farm I got them from sold me her only 3 fertile eggs. Thanks! Sorry this is so long lol, I wanted to explain the situation and am a newby to all of this. (we have 3 week old chicks we got as day olds, not sure what they are yet, and the 3, possibly 2, ducklings we are trying so hard to incubate) Thanks again!

You may want to post on the Runner Duck thread. We got our Runner Duck eggs from Stonykill. They are in my incubator now. I am worried about them because my DD ordered them at the same time she ordered us some hatching chicken eggs too! It is a challenge because ducks need higher humidity and longer incubation and I only have one incubator and the eggs all came at the same time! I will be putting the eggs in lockdown Thurs AM and then after the chickens hatch, I will leave them in for 24 hours and then have to open the bator, take out the chicks and then reset everything for the duck eggs! Wishing us both luck!

 

[PECULIARPETE]

Well I just got in more eggs to hatch.Jersey Giants,EE,Olive eggers, and silked Americana. They all look good except they are kinda/pretty dirty. What would be the best way to clean them off without hurting them? Or should I just leave it alone.

 

If your eggs are pretty dirty I wouldn't even try to hatch them. Slightly dirty eggs can be gently buffed with a worn scrubbie pad. In order to clean dirty eggs you would be washing off what's called the bloom on fresh eggs that's acts a a barrier acts against bacteria passing thru the porus shell. What I've done when I'm collecting hatching eggs is make sure all the nest boxes are clean and check for and remove eggs often. I've tried incubating soiled eggs and never had very much luck. But it's the luck of the draw. If they make it thru the first candling, just let them take natures course. I never had much luck with my Muscoveys their eggs just get dirty by looking at them. Last spring I just left them under mrs Muscovey, then what seemed like no time at all, I looked out the window n saw a bunch of yellow fuzz balls out in the pen. Turned out to be 17 of the lil buggars. So who knows what's right or wrong? Just keep on doin what ur doin.

 

[Chick a dee1023]

Thank you

I didn't know there was a runner duck thread!

I'm really new to this site too lol. Good luck with your babies!

 

[DMRippy]

I hatch dirty eggs all the time. Broodies do it too...... nasty when they get done

It cannot hurt to TRY to hatch dirty eggs.... the worst that could happen, they don't hatch.... well maybe not the worst

 

[SewChaos]

I've tried washing, lightly scrubbing and leaving dirty eggs alone. Regardless, I end up with about 1/2 in blood rings.

 

[Flowerbh]

I've tried washing, lightly scrubbing and leaving dirty eggs alone. Regardless, I end up with about 1/2 in blood rings.

The thing about washing the eggs that bothers me is that I can read a book on hatching and on one page it will say NEVER wash them and then on the next page it will say to make sure you wash them! Very confusing. IF you wash them, you must make sure you use water warmer than the egg. That prevents bacteria being absorbed into the egg and killing the egg. I only washed one egg because it was really really bad. (Really dirty eggs can cause bacteria to grow and could contaminate eggs around them) and that washed egg is ready to go into lockdown on Thursday. It is growing well at this time.

 

[insanity]

Thanks, I'll just leave it to fate then. I will mark the worst of them down in my hatch journal.Maybe it will show if dirt makes a difference.

 

[Duck Drover]

I have Australian Spotted duck eggs I thought were due to hatch yesterday. Usually ducks take 28 days but I read somewhere that bantam ducks hatch in 26 days and these ducks are bantams. I checked one egg last night since I moved them to a hatching incubator (used incubator that was already used for hatches so I can keep my new ones clean) and there was good movement so I don't think I killed the clutch. Either these are late or they take 28 days instead of 26 days. It is also possible they will hatch later because my temp has been 99.5 in a still air (afraid a fan will decrease the humidity too much) and I have read suggestions to raise the temperature for the still air incubator. Because temperature spikes are more fatal than lower temperatures I decided not to raise the temperature and keep it at the 99.5 recommended by the manufacturer. Has anyone else hatched Australian Spotted ducks in an incubator? I have two hens sitting now but lots of fertile eggs to hatch in the incubators.

 

[gladahmae]

Well last night after the kids went to bed, I went down and move my eggs to their appropriate incubators, got my sponges in to help boost humidity, etc etc and shut the lid and went upstairs to watch a movie. When the movie was over the incubator was back up to 90.3 deg (it had dropped to about 84 or so with having the lid off for so long) but the light indicating the heating element was still running was on, so I figured it would be fine. I knew I had removed a lot of heat from the other eggs being taken out, so I turned it up about 1/4 of a turn (which is about .3-.5deg for me) and went to bed. I woke up this morning, and it stopped warming at 91.3

I'm incredibly irritated now. I know that it shouldn't really impact things because air temp isn't core temp, and it was only for 8 hours, but now I'm a lot more nervous about things.

I ended up cutting the bottoms out of a Styrofoam carton and putting all of my shipped eggs in there, and half of my mutt egg. I but the other half my the mutt eggs on their sides, just to kind of make it an experiment.