**~~>>Second Annual Cinco de Mayo Turkey Hatchathon<<~~**all poultry welcome!

[superchemicalgirl]

I got duck eggs today from ducks on steroids. These suckers are bigger than some of the goose eggs I've gotten! Thanks SCG!!!!! The PO doesn't like to deliver eggs in good shape to me, so thanks to your packaging, nothing broken, but I see 2 good aircells, 3 detached and the other 2 are .......hmmmmmmm Not sure. I'm not going to turn for a couple of days and see if that helps.

Now! Someone talk me through hatching ducks so I get something to quack at me. So excited. These are great and I hope they didn't shake them up enough for something not to hatch for me. I'm on a mission for ducklings!

I'm glad nothing was broken. I packed as securely as possible for their long journey. They are huge eggs... I can't get 4 across in the cartons (my cartons are 4x3) and if there's a duck egg in there, the carton top doesn't close, either. The girls are religious layers except during the winter. An egg a day... better than a leghorn. I start feeding 16% layer pellets pretty early on in their ducklingdom so they can build up calcium.

Nothing different about incubating, hatching duck eggs, just 28 days instead of 21. Some people "spritz" them daily with water - I don't and they hatch just fine.



Also, only female ducks quack. Male ducks sound like a really angry... rattlesnake maybe?

 

[superchemicalgirl]

I did! I did!

I now have my very own Extra Secure Long Sleeved Jacket! Nobody here today to take pictures of me modeling it, but I'll take care of that tomorrow!

I love it!

 

[wolftracks]

I'm glad nothing was broken. I packed as securely as possible for their long journey. They are huge eggs... I can't get 4 across in the cartons (my cartons are 4x3) and if there's a duck egg in there, the carton top doesn't close, either. The girls are religious layers except during the winter. An egg a day... better than a leghorn. I start feeding 16% layer pellets pretty early on in their ducklingdom so they can build up calcium.

Nothing different about incubating, hatching duck eggs, just 28 days instead of 21. Some people "spritz" them daily with water - I don't and they hatch just fine.



Also, only female ducks quack. Male ducks sound like a really angry... rattlesnake maybe?

I used to bring home everything as a kid. My mom delt with ducks for about 2 weeks and then a neighbor took them. Just realized why I love my roosters so much, cause out of all I brought home, 10 I think, only 2 were female. LOL And later as a mom of kids that wanted to go to the library where the duck pond was, I remember those drakes coming up behind us when that sound. Mating season between them and the geese wasn't a good time to feed the ducks, haha

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Quote: awwwwww

 

[yinepu]

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Sounds like someone has too much time on their hands.

Wowser! That's a lot of turning!!

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x2

Gorgeous!! You are so talented...

thanks...
I guess it's a good thing I don't have a life!

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I am not an emu enabler...I am not an emu enabler.....

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Pretty much what SCG said.. (Muscovys are a teeny bit different .. link in my signature has info for them if you should find yourself with Scovies)

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X2.. but I should add that a lot of people also remove them from the bator for a period of cooling .. it starts off at around 5 minutes a day at around day 10.. (I spritz with water when I cool them)...
And then work up to 10 to 15 minutes of cooling per day over the next few days.. the cooling periods continue up until hatch.. the argument is that it helps make the ducklings stronger so they make it through hatch.
I would say to try it both ways (assuming you have the time and will remember to set a timer for the cooling periods) and see which way works best for you

 

[wolftracks]

I've only ever remembered the spritzing and cooling. And I still don't know what these are. LOL BTW, if these weren't packed so well, I'm sure the PO would havedelivered them broken, so no problem with how they were shipped. I'm not totally worried about the detached aircells, but I've only had a few hatch. Well in comparison to the hatches I used to have. I was pretty good at it and then when I saw problems people had, it was like i started having all of them. Hatch-a-Condriac.
I hurt, so I'm going to see if I can finally fall asleep. Long long night. Plus watching all the stuff happening in Boston and I just haven't been able to sleep. But I'm gonna try.

 

[dsqard]

I just candled my turkey eggs and DH was right. If all of them hatch that are developing, I am going to have A LOT of turkeys. Only had to pull 2 out of the 25 I set.

 

[SilkieSensation]

I sad....My little brinsea bator is empty

I was all set to put new eggs in today but I was suddenly swamped with a demand for hatching eggs, so now I have nothing to put in my bator. I've been looking on eBay and here just looking for something.

if my calls duck would start laying I would be soooooo thrilled as I'm dying to hatch some ducks for the first time.

I have pekins, runners & calls for sale

I got duck eggs today from ducks on steroids. These suckers are bigger than some of the goose eggs I've gotten! Thanks SCG!!!!! The PO doesn't like to deliver eggs in good shape to me, so thanks to your packaging, nothing broken, but I see 2 good aircells, 3 detached and the other 2 are .......hmmmmmmm Not sure. I'm not going to turn for a couple of days and see if that helps.

Now! Someone talk me through hatching ducks so I get something to quack at me. So excited. These are great and I hope they didn't shake them up enough for something not to hatch for me. I'm on a mission for ducklings!

I raise humidity by about 10% through the entire process from what I do for chicks. Some people cool & mist, I don't. But I DO hand turn, so they get a bit of cooling while I'm turning the million eggs in with them. Duckies are a bit slower about the whole hatching process. Where it takes a chick a couple hours to maybe a day to hatch ducklings will take at least a day & maybe 2 & partway into the 3rd day sometimes once they pip internally to fully hatched. Patience is key with them. Don't try to help too early. They take longer to absorb veins & yolk. Calls are a bit different & sometimes need help due to the tiny bills. Scovies just take another extra week & usually hatch a bit quicker than the other ducks. Calls take 26 days, scovies take 35, everything else takes 28 unless it is a mix of call or scovy & then times are somewhere in between.

I'm glad nothing was broken. I packed as securely as possible for their long journey. They are huge eggs... I can't get 4 across in the cartons (my cartons are 4x3) and if there's a duck egg in there, the carton top doesn't close, either. The girls are religious layers except during the winter. An egg a day... better than a leghorn. I start feeding 16% layer pellets pretty early on in their ducklingdom so they can build up calcium.

Nothing different about incubating, hatching duck eggs, just 28 days instead of 21. Some people "spritz" them daily with water - I don't and they hatch just fine.



Also, only female ducks quack. Male ducks sound like a really angry... rattlesnake maybe?

I always think they sound like they have a sore throat. Then there's the scovy hiss that sounds like they are laughing at you.

thanks...
I guess it's a good thing I don't have a life!

I am not an emu enabler...I am not an emu enabler.....

Pretty much what SCG said.. (Muscovys are a teeny bit different .. link in my signature has info for them if you should find yourself with Scovies)


X2.. but I should add that a lot of people also remove them from the bator for a period of cooling .. it starts off at around 5 minutes a day at around day 10.. (I spritz with water when I cool them)...
And then work up to 10 to 15 minutes of cooling per day over the next few days.. the cooling periods continue up until hatch.. the argument is that it helps make the ducklings stronger so they make it through hatch.
I would say to try it both ways (assuming you have the time and will remember to set a timer for the cooling periods) and see which way works best for you

Enable away

I won't complain.

Everything really depends on your bator set-up & the eggs themselves, just like with chickens. Pretty much, if you run slightly higher humidity (especially during hatch) everything else is the same. Mist & cool if you want. It simulates mom's daily swim. Otherwise just like chicks but everything takes longer.

 

[yinepu]

I've only ever remembered the spritzing and cooling. And I still don't know what these are. LOL BTW, if these weren't packed so well, I'm sure the PO would havedelivered them broken, so no problem with how they were shipped. I'm not totally worried about the detached aircells, but I've only had a few hatch. Well in comparison to the hatches I used to have. I was pretty good at it and then when I saw problems people had, it was like i started having all of them. Hatch-a-Condriac.
I hurt, so I'm going to see if I can finally fall asleep. Long long night. Plus watching all the stuff happening in Boston and I just haven't been able to sleep. But I'm gonna try.

are the eggs tinted?

Scovie eggs tend to be very waxy looking.. a bit more so that my pekins.. depending on the girls they are usually medium to large eggs
my cayugas lay medium sized tinted eggs (from black to shades of greyish green)
and my mallards always gave me greenish eggs when the girls were laying (only one of my old ladies left.. she just turned 8 years old) but they can also be a pale creamy white to blue green in color
my ancona eggs that came in were shades of pale green to creamy white as well.. but were also a bit smaller (could just be from young layers).
and my mandarin eggs were the smallest.. pale white as well.. and just a bit more rounded than my other duck eggs

 

[yinepu]

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lol.. I incubate my ducks and geese dry... I've even had the darn things develop on my kitchen counter during the summer with 0 incubator assistance.

(it gets hot here)
so yeah.. it really does depend on the incubator setup.. which is why I said to see which way works best for them