So I have a flock of Indian Runners, and we're usually pretty good about picking up eggs, but every now and again a girl goes rogue and hides a nest, and if the eggs start getting vascular, I don't have the heart to pull them anymore. One of my girls, Ping, did the thing, so I let her roll with it, but after a week, only one egg was still processing. I didn't want a singleton, so I grabbed one from another nest that looked like it was going (another, more awkward girl was trying to nest nearby, but she wasn't doing a great job of it).
Time goes by, an egg hatches, she's a beautiful baby with moocow spots, and a Taurus, so we name her Holstein. She's doing great, climbing all over Ping like a junglegym, and the second egg appears to be progressing, but is harder to tell and seems further behind than I had thought. I call the second egg Maybebaby because I know there's a decent chance I messed up and it might not make it.
Two weeks go by, and I go to check on the nursery area we set up in the duck house. Ping has given up sitting, and the egg is cooled, but when I candle it, I'm A L M O S T certain I can still see a tiny bit of movement and veins. Being a classy lady in a crisis, I stick it in my bra to warm up and we dig through the heaps for a dusty old second hand incubator none of us have ever used, and I bosom-brood until it's up to temp and humidity, and we get Maybebaby set up in Plan C.
In the meantime, Ping embraced deadbeat mom status and escapes the nursery, so Holstein is stuck alone. I catch my awkward girl, Odette, who had been kinda trying to brood, but poorly (mostly because she's easiest to catch) and chuck her in the nursery. Holstein loves her immediately, Odette is kinda oblivious but tolerant, good enough.
Well, against all odds, Maybebaby hatched today! She's surprisingly active, flopping her away around the incubator, and I have her set up watching videos of my previous ducklings on a laptop next to the incubator.
So now the question; what are the odds that I can put this new hatchling (dob 5/5) in with a duckling born on 4/19 and a good-natured but largely vapid hen?
Time goes by, an egg hatches, she's a beautiful baby with moocow spots, and a Taurus, so we name her Holstein. She's doing great, climbing all over Ping like a junglegym, and the second egg appears to be progressing, but is harder to tell and seems further behind than I had thought. I call the second egg Maybebaby because I know there's a decent chance I messed up and it might not make it.
Two weeks go by, and I go to check on the nursery area we set up in the duck house. Ping has given up sitting, and the egg is cooled, but when I candle it, I'm A L M O S T certain I can still see a tiny bit of movement and veins. Being a classy lady in a crisis, I stick it in my bra to warm up and we dig through the heaps for a dusty old second hand incubator none of us have ever used, and I bosom-brood until it's up to temp and humidity, and we get Maybebaby set up in Plan C.
In the meantime, Ping embraced deadbeat mom status and escapes the nursery, so Holstein is stuck alone. I catch my awkward girl, Odette, who had been kinda trying to brood, but poorly (mostly because she's easiest to catch) and chuck her in the nursery. Holstein loves her immediately, Odette is kinda oblivious but tolerant, good enough.
Well, against all odds, Maybebaby hatched today! She's surprisingly active, flopping her away around the incubator, and I have her set up watching videos of my previous ducklings on a laptop next to the incubator.
So now the question; what are the odds that I can put this new hatchling (dob 5/5) in with a duckling born on 4/19 and a good-natured but largely vapid hen?
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