Well I just candled my ducks eggs. I had been trying to figure out what to do about the difference in ages of the eggs in my ducks nests, they share one and I was concerned that they would all be at different stages. I went through them all and most of them seem to be on the same page. I looked back through some of the posts about duck egg candling so I would kind of know what I was looking at and made a homemade candler out of a coffee can and a 60 watt light bulb. It may not have been ideal but I think it worked well enough. About 10 of the eggs were half dark, 3 of them were still looking like just yolks, and 8 were showing what looked like a small dark spot with veins all around.
I wrote the date on them all with notes and then put the 10 that looked farthest along on the half of the nest that is under the duck that has been sitting the longest, and the other 11 on the half of the nest under the duck that has only been broody for about a week. The girls may end up mixing them back up but at least now I can tell them all apart. I was not really paying attention to the dates that they began to sit but I am at least optimistic that they are all developing. I don't quite know about the ones that just looked like yolks but the one thread said that they may not show much in the way of development until day 7 so I will check them all again in a week. They all looked great, no cracks or damage and they are all clean and well taken care of. This is really exciting!
There will sure be alot of ducks around if they all hatch! 21 little ducklings all cute and fluffy! AAAAWWW
Now if I can only work up the nerve to go and steal a couple of the turkey eggs from those mamas I will be in business.
They are much more scary and I believe we are down to our last week on those. Gosh I have to get better about my record keeping! They are not in a pen so I need to keep a close on on that hatch so I can brood some of them myself. I really don't want to lose all those babies.
I think it is really sweet though that my two first time mama turkeys and my two first time mama ducks are sharing nests and sitting on the nests together. (not together-together, the ducks are on one nest and the turkeys are on theirs) When ever I peek in at them it is always one mama facing one way and one mama facing the other, like they are watching out for each other. Mother Nature is so cool!
I wrote the date on them all with notes and then put the 10 that looked farthest along on the half of the nest that is under the duck that has been sitting the longest, and the other 11 on the half of the nest under the duck that has only been broody for about a week. The girls may end up mixing them back up but at least now I can tell them all apart. I was not really paying attention to the dates that they began to sit but I am at least optimistic that they are all developing. I don't quite know about the ones that just looked like yolks but the one thread said that they may not show much in the way of development until day 7 so I will check them all again in a week. They all looked great, no cracks or damage and they are all clean and well taken care of. This is really exciting!
There will sure be alot of ducks around if they all hatch! 21 little ducklings all cute and fluffy! AAAAWWW
Now if I can only work up the nerve to go and steal a couple of the turkey eggs from those mamas I will be in business.
I think it is really sweet though that my two first time mama turkeys and my two first time mama ducks are sharing nests and sitting on the nests together. (not together-together, the ducks are on one nest and the turkeys are on theirs) When ever I peek in at them it is always one mama facing one way and one mama facing the other, like they are watching out for each other. Mother Nature is so cool!
