Nathalie
Chirping
So, since yesterday I have 2 Muscovy eggs cooking in my makeshift incubator - that has by the way worked like a charm previously. But there's one problem: I have no idea how far they are. Let me explain on why I have no clue at all.
4 days ago 11 Muscovy ducklings were successfully hatched by mama Muscovy. Only 4 eggs were left, but I decided to leave them with her. Sometimes some eggs do need a little bit more time. But after the first night I saw that the ducklings had kicked out 2 of the 4 eggs, on the ground in front of the nesting box, in the cold open air and rain. They were already cold as stone, and after warming them up and candling them for a long time (to make sure), I was convinced that they didn't survive the cold and rainy night, sadly enough. They had already died. That's also when mama duck decided the next day to leave the nesting box with her 11 children, leaving the other 2 eggs fend for themselves. She didn't return to the nesting box at all, so the eggs were also already pretty cold by the time I picked them up, with - by first looks - no life in them anymore either. But, after having them in my warm hands for about 15 minutes while candling them, all the sudden I saw the first faint movement in one of them. I quickly checked the other one, and low and behold: these two were still alive!! Barely, but alive. So I quickly put them under de heat lamp of my bearded dragon (a nice 38 degrees there and low humidity), and took out the ol' makeshift incubator. After a few hours they were again very alive, and responded with frantic movements to little taps on their shell. YAY!! But here's the thing: these 2 eggs are way behind in development. Like... WAY behind. The chicks are very well alive, as I said, while one is clearly smaller (younger?) than the other though, but the air cell is still very small. It looks like they are around day 18-20. The chicks are very lively and kicking, but you can tell by their shadow while candling that they are not even close to hatching day. So my question is: is such an age difference normal? Could it be that the other female sneaked into the nest while mama duck went bathing and dropped a little surprise in it? Twice? The other female was broody for a while and always tried to go sit on the eggs, but mama duck didn't want any of that (she's the dominant one of the two). Keep in mind: they have several nesting boxes they can choose from, just in case you were wondering.
I'll TRY to get a proper picture of the 2 eggs, to give you guys a bit of better understanding to what I mean when I say they look like younger eggs.
Cheers and hoping someone can enlighten me a bit on this situation.
4 days ago 11 Muscovy ducklings were successfully hatched by mama Muscovy. Only 4 eggs were left, but I decided to leave them with her. Sometimes some eggs do need a little bit more time. But after the first night I saw that the ducklings had kicked out 2 of the 4 eggs, on the ground in front of the nesting box, in the cold open air and rain. They were already cold as stone, and after warming them up and candling them for a long time (to make sure), I was convinced that they didn't survive the cold and rainy night, sadly enough. They had already died. That's also when mama duck decided the next day to leave the nesting box with her 11 children, leaving the other 2 eggs fend for themselves. She didn't return to the nesting box at all, so the eggs were also already pretty cold by the time I picked them up, with - by first looks - no life in them anymore either. But, after having them in my warm hands for about 15 minutes while candling them, all the sudden I saw the first faint movement in one of them. I quickly checked the other one, and low and behold: these two were still alive!! Barely, but alive. So I quickly put them under de heat lamp of my bearded dragon (a nice 38 degrees there and low humidity), and took out the ol' makeshift incubator. After a few hours they were again very alive, and responded with frantic movements to little taps on their shell. YAY!! But here's the thing: these 2 eggs are way behind in development. Like... WAY behind. The chicks are very well alive, as I said, while one is clearly smaller (younger?) than the other though, but the air cell is still very small. It looks like they are around day 18-20. The chicks are very lively and kicking, but you can tell by their shadow while candling that they are not even close to hatching day. So my question is: is such an age difference normal? Could it be that the other female sneaked into the nest while mama duck went bathing and dropped a little surprise in it? Twice? The other female was broody for a while and always tried to go sit on the eggs, but mama duck didn't want any of that (she's the dominant one of the two). Keep in mind: they have several nesting boxes they can choose from, just in case you were wondering.
I'll TRY to get a proper picture of the 2 eggs, to give you guys a bit of better understanding to what I mean when I say they look like younger eggs.
Cheers and hoping someone can enlighten me a bit on this situation.
One of the air cells has also started to increase since yesterday. It even has gotten bigger since this morning! I even saw the tiny "feathers" on one of the wings just an hour ago. Such an amazing miracle, isn't it. The other one - the tiniest of the two - is still taking it's time. Like I said, it's considerably smaller than the other one, and the air cell hasn't moved at all yet, so I suspect this one was sneaked in even later on than his/her bigger brother/sister. But it's also doing awesome and very responsive.
Once born they will stay about one week with us in the house - to make sure they are okay, that they eat and drink and that there are no health issues - and will then take a 2 kilometer voyage to a good friend of mine who always wanted Muscovy ducks. She has a big backyard with plenty of other free roaming poultry and whatnot and is excited to have these two joining the family. They are going to be spoiled rotten, that much I can tell you. Her animals are like her children. And if it would turn out to be two males, which could be a problem knowing how territorial drakes can be - her father, who also has a big backyard and plenty of other backyard animals - is willing to take in one of them in case it's needed and spoil him even more. 
