The Duckling Project **LOCKDOWN QUESTIONS ADDED 4/26/10**

[kare21162]

So I got 16 duck eggs for free on April 1st. 5 are Call ducks, and 11 are Khaki Campbell and Khaki Campbell/Rouen cross. I am using a LG forced air incubator, the cheap styrofoam ones. This is my first time trying to hatch ducks! I have successfully hatched chickens and failed to hatch turkeys. Since these eggs were free I decided to take on the "project"

I tell you I don't know much about ducks...besides that they need water deep enough to clean their beaks So I'll tell you what I am doing with my eggs in the incubator:

99.5 (day 1-24)
55% (day 1-24)

99 (day 25-28)
65% (day 25-28)

99 (pipping)
80% (pipping)

97 (end of hatch)
70% (end of hatch)

I'm turning my eggs 3 or 5 times a day. I am not using the egg turner because I have been told that turning by hand has a better hatch rate by people that have tried both ways with ducks. Also, I started "misting" them on day 4 with water that is the same temp. as the incubator temp.. Basically that's what I know and I think I know enough to successfully hatch based on that knowledge. If I'm missing anything please let me know! My one and only issue is the humidity. I have all the water rings inside the incubator FULL! Plus, I have a small container of water sitting on the bottom of the incubator as well and that is FULL. I'm going to post my temp/humidity recordings and you'll see my issues with the humidity. And these containers are always FULL, keep that in mind. So here goes the first week in the incubator readings:

4/1
6:45PM - 99.8/54% (eggs went into the incubator)
8PM - 100.2/53%
9PM - 100.4/53%
4/2
12AM - 100.2/45%
7AM - 99.1/45%
11AM - 100.4/42% (turned)
12PM - 99.3/48%
4PM - 98.6/49% (turned)
6PM - 100.7/49%
9PM - 99.8/50% (turned)
4/3
12AM - 99.8/59%
3AM - 99.6/58% (turned)
10AM - 99.6/55% (turned)
4PM - 100.2/55% (turned)
8PM - 99.8/55%
11PM - 99.8/55%
4/4
12AM - 99.8/55%
2AM - 99.8/55% (turned)
9AM - 100.2/55% (turned)
11PM - 99.8/55% (turned)
4/5
8AM - 100.2/51% (turned)
2PM - 99.8/55% (turned)
8PM - 99.6/53% (turned)
11PM - 99.3/55% (turned/mist)
4/6
2AM - 98.6/50% (turned)
12PM - 99.8/55% (turned)
5PM - 99.8/55% (turned)
11PM - 99.3/55% (turned/mist)
4/7
11AM - 99.5/52% (turned)
5PM - 99.5/52% (turned)
11PM - 99.3/55% (turned/mist)
4/8
11AM - 100.4/50% (turned)
4PM - 100.2/50% (turned)
9PM - 100/50% (candled)
11PM - 100/50% (turned/mist)

So that's my first week of temp/humid readings. I just candled today and 4 of the Khaki Campbell and Khaki Campbell/Rouen eggs were infertile. All the rest had all viable growing ducklings in them. I saw all 12 heartbeats. I have small hopes for one of the Call duck eggs...it has quite a large indent on one end of it. The duckling is still viable but the air sac is HUGE compared to the others. It takes up about 1/3 of the egg right now. So I'm praying for that duckling to pull through. If it does it will be my miracle duck! I'm going to look for my camera and take pictures of my candlings

If I can figure out how to post them on here you'll get to see my babies!!!

Have a goodnight and happy hatching!

 

[duckyfromoz]

Wow- You get up in the middle of the night to turn your eggs???? I never did that..i jsut stay up all night to watch them hatch.

So sorry about the dinted egg. Sounds like there could be a crack that is letting too much moisture evapoarte forom the egg already. Good luck over the next few weeks...

 

[kare21162]

Lol, no I don't get up in the middle of the night to turn them. We are just up that late

I usually can never sleep either when I see the first pip! I really hope that dented egg pulls through!

 

[kare21162]

This is my "miracle" egg! The duckling is still alive and moving in there

Here is one side where a crack is on "miracle"

...

...And the other side where the HUGE air sac is

Here is the best picture I could get...it was hard to take on my iPhone

Here is an egg I thought had a blood ring around it, but the duckling is still moving around inside:/

Some of my other pictures...sorry for the quality

ENJOY!!!

 

[duckyfromoz]

They are some excellent photos of candled eggs... I sure hope lovesduckies sees these too- as I know she will be candling on Monday for the first time. I already sent her a link to a great web site- but these are exactly what she should be seeing too by then.

 

[lovesduckies]

i did seee HOW COOOOL i can't wait till monday!!!! thanks for thinking about me duckyfromoz.
such wonderful pics kare!!!! i really know what what to look for!!

 

[cracking up]

I wrapped my styrofoam bator in a small towel to help with keeping the temp stable and as a bonus it helped with the humidity. I would have thought that was a blood ring too - that's why I almost never throw out an egg unless it starts to smell or is clear. Hope you have a great hatch.

 

[tia]

Great pictures.... We are going to start incubating on Monday..... Trying to get enough eggs.... lay runner ducks lay.... : )

 

[kare21162]

Thanks you guys! The egg that looked to have a blood ring, was a blood ring

It was completely a ring last night...so now I have 11 eggs left out of 16. 4 of which were infertile. I seem to be keeping the temp and the humidity fine right now. I don't know what I'm going to do come lockdown. I can only get the humidity up so high and I have all rings filled and a cup of water in there, full. I'll try that towel trick, Cracking Up! I'll also post more pictures this Thursday, day 14

 

[TennesseeTruly]

One of the things that I had read somewhere on my travels was that things like vessels (cups, bowls, saucers, and such) don't work as well as things like sponges, washclothes, etc. Also the larger the surface area that is wet (ie, wash cloth vs sponge) the higher the humidity will go, faster.

I tried it with my goslings in two different incubators and two different methods. One I used sponges, the the other I used washcloths. The washcloths held the humidity better. Supposedly because the surface area is bigger.

Laurie