Long story short, my housemate was on vacation and there was a nearby mallard nest where the mama was killed by a cat. Not knowing what to do (the temp was dropping and it started to rain), she brought them in the cabin she was staying in and then drove them home, 2.5 hrs with the heat 100% cranked.
I fashioned a homemade incubator, which we promptly put them in (this was on Monday evening). The temp has been steady at 100 degrees, humidity ranging between 60% and 75% (trying to keep it at 70). I've candled the eggs, and some are dark with the air cell "dipping down." Others aren't as dark and show clear blood vessels. (They look like day 25 and day 17 respectively http://www.metzerfarms.com/Candling.cfm ) And then, others look more like day 2 (thinking those are likely dead).
Anyhow, I'm not really sure what to do from here. Every native animal rescue that we called (we called 8 of them within a 200 mile radius) said that we should keep the eggs warm and see what happens because they can't take eggs....though they will take baby ducks if they hatch. So....questions:
- Is there anything else that I can do to increase chances of survival?
- Is there even a remote chance that any of them have survived?
- Can eggs from the same clutch develop at different rates?
- Are the dark ones dead, or more likely getting ready to hatch?
I figure that I'll keep this up for another week....and if there are no changes when candling, etc after that, it's likely a wash. So far, none of the eggs smell or anything, so that seems like good news... I have had chickens for a long time, but a. have never hatched anything, or b. dealt with ducks....
*Slight update, candled again with all lights off and a brighter light and the one that shows the super clear blood vessels definitely is alive and moving. So that's 1 out of 9 at least.
*Edited to add- the first egg externally pipped!
I fashioned a homemade incubator, which we promptly put them in (this was on Monday evening). The temp has been steady at 100 degrees, humidity ranging between 60% and 75% (trying to keep it at 70). I've candled the eggs, and some are dark with the air cell "dipping down." Others aren't as dark and show clear blood vessels. (They look like day 25 and day 17 respectively http://www.metzerfarms.com/Candling.cfm ) And then, others look more like day 2 (thinking those are likely dead).
Anyhow, I'm not really sure what to do from here. Every native animal rescue that we called (we called 8 of them within a 200 mile radius) said that we should keep the eggs warm and see what happens because they can't take eggs....though they will take baby ducks if they hatch. So....questions:
- Is there anything else that I can do to increase chances of survival?
- Is there even a remote chance that any of them have survived?
- Can eggs from the same clutch develop at different rates?
- Are the dark ones dead, or more likely getting ready to hatch?
I figure that I'll keep this up for another week....and if there are no changes when candling, etc after that, it's likely a wash. So far, none of the eggs smell or anything, so that seems like good news... I have had chickens for a long time, but a. have never hatched anything, or b. dealt with ducks....
*Slight update, candled again with all lights off and a brighter light and the one that shows the super clear blood vessels definitely is alive and moving. So that's 1 out of 9 at least.
*Edited to add- the first egg externally pipped!
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