June Hatch A Long

[Bookworm0124]

Has anyone swapped eggs from a duck? My girls sitting on a few but I ordered some from Quacky Acres to swap out and put under her

Looking for suggestions on the best way to do this.

 

[Mosey2003]

Looking for suggestions on the best way to do this.

People do it all the time. Mark your new ones all the way around the middle so you can see the marking whichever way the egg is rolled. Then go out after dark and swap them.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Looking for suggestions on the best way to do this.

People do it all the time. Mark your new ones all the way around the middle so you can see the marking whichever way the egg is rolled. Then go out after dark and swap them.

I do it with my chickens all the time! Like Mosey2003 suggested, I like to mark any eggs I put under my broodies so that it's easy to identify if another chicken/duck decided to add to her clutch, lol.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

@PirateGirl @jolenesdad @the cluck juggler
Thank you again for trying to help! I was impatient and made a dark room to go ahead and candle them now instead of waiting until tonight. It's not looking good for most of them. I can't provide a picture of what I saw before setting them but there are clearly blood streaks in most of them now that doesn't bode well...I do see a few that may still be viable. So I think these were unfortunately likely stored outside and this heat caused them to be in varying stages of partial/early development. Not everyone is as careful with their hatching eggs as I am. We live and we learn I guess. I'll wait until the end of the week to give up on them just in case since they've only been in the incubators for a few days but this looks like it's going to be a sad outcome.

 

[PirateGirl]

@PirateGirl @jolenesdad @the cluck juggler
Thank you again for trying to help! I was impatient and made a dark room to go ahead and candle them now instead of waiting until tonight. It's not looking good for most of them. I can't provide a picture of what I saw before setting them but there are clearly blood streaks in most of them now that doesn't bode well...I do see a few that may still be viable. So I think these were unfortunately likely stored outside and this heat caused them to be in varying stages of partial/early development. Not everyone is as careful with their hatching eggs as I am. We live and we learn I guess. I'll wait until the end of the week to give up on them just in case since they've only been in the incubators for a few days but this looks like it's going to be a sad outcome.

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I would leave them all a week and check again. It does look as if some have already started. It will be obvious which are developing in a week, and now you have photos to compare to.

 

[jolenesdad]

@PirateGirl @jolenesdad @the cluck juggler
Thank you again for trying to help! I was impatient and made a dark room to go ahead and candle them now instead of waiting until tonight. It's not looking good for most of them. I can't provide a picture of what I saw before setting them but there are clearly blood streaks in most of them now that doesn't bode well...I do see a few that may still be viable. So I think these were unfortunately likely stored outside and this heat caused them to be in varying stages of partial/early development. Not everyone is as careful with their hatching eggs as I am. We live and we learn I guess. I'll wait until the end of the week to give up on them just in case since they've only been in the incubators for a few days but this looks like it's going to be a sad outcome.

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Thanks for the photos. This is all so interesting to learn from everyone.

I think you’re right on your labels.... but I’m no expert. In fact, I marked an egg as non viable on my chart two days ago and went to double check today on day 6 and it’s going strong. I agree wait another few days and candle again and let’s hope for changes!

I’m gonna try and find that video of day 1 candling and see if that’s what you saw the first day.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Hi, I would like to participate in the June hatch along! My daughter and I set eggs in a Hovo bator circulating incubator at 10 PM Saturday, June 1 so we are at day 2! We set 12 shipped BCM eggs and seven BCM x CCL eggs from our own birds. Everything feels experimental - we bred our birds over just an hour after introductions and collected the next week of eggs, so those eggs may not be fertile. Plus, I know that shipped eggs are a gamble. We want to hatch under a broody, so she is sitting on ceramic eggs while we maximize chances of hatching shipped eggs by setting them without turning the first few days. Wish us luck!

 

[jolenesdad]

Welcome @Mixed flock enthusiast! Great idea to have them handled less at the beginning.

I’d personally set mostly your eggs under her, and keep most of the shipped eggs in the bator. She can’t take all of them anyway, right? Were you able to see into the marans eggs at all to see air cells or not?

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Welcome @Mixed flock enthusiast! Great idea to have them handled less at the beginning.

I’d personally set mostly your eggs under her, and keep most of the shipped eggs in the bator. She can’t take all of them anyway, right? Were you able to see into the marans eggs at all to see air cells or not?

Hi Jolenesdad, I could just see a suggestion of an air cell in the BCM eggs so couldn’t really tell if they were damaged. We recently had a broody hatch 12 eggs from day 0 (see gratuitous pic!) and it only took 20 days. Our incubator hatches have been 21-22 days, so I’m afraid that if I give her some eggs, we will get a staggered hatch. Plus, my incubator/turner keeps them very upright with a very gentile action, which seems best for shipped eggs. Current plan is to swap real eggs on day 18!

 

[jolenesdad]

Hi Jolenesdad, I could just see a suggestion of an air cell in the BCM eggs so couldn’t really tell if they were damaged. We recently had a broody hatch 12 eggs from day 0 (see gratuitous pic!) and it only took 20 days. Our incubator hatches have been 21-22 days, so I’m afraid that if I give her some eggs, we will get a staggered hatch. Plus, my incubator/turner keeps them very upright with a very gentile action, which seems best for shipped eggs. Current plan is to swap real eggs on day 18!

Everyone making me INSANELY JEALOUS of their broodies!!!!

Sounds like an excellent plan!