Thread formerly known as Hatch day is today

[Wulfandwyn]

Thanks! Unfortunately they were presold so I don't get to keep them. I was hatching for someone. She gave me 8 eggs to hatch and only the two made it. I was hoping to hatch all 8 and keep two, but had a lot of bad luck with the skunk and my hen Keiko being too big or rough with the eggs. But the lady I was hatching them for said she would give me some more eggs to hatch out so I can have some and so she can get more ducklings too hopefully. That was my excuse for buying the incubator, and then of course I just had to get some eggs to "test out the incubator".

Wulf, your mini silver apples are precious!! Congrats!!

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have a question please, I have a duck egg under a broody duck, I know this is different than incubator but still have a question, The egg has a pip on the outside and when i picked it up to examine it it looks like the membrane is still intact, how can that be? The membrane didn't look dry but it sure looks tough, Is this the way the egg should be? I do not want to help this duckling but I am terrified of it getting shrink wrapped since this happened just recently in another ducks hatch, Yesterday I heard tapping and today a small pip and peeping, it's day 37 {Muscovy} So do I just go find something to do so i will quit fretting or should I DO something to help?

 

[Iain Utah]

Lydia, if you see an external pip on the shell, there is most likely a puncture you cannot see in the membrane. Sounds like everything is going well and I would probably leave it under the broody. I hope the baby makes it out ok!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Lydia, if you see an external pip on the shell, there is most likely a puncture you cannot see in the membrane. Sounds like everything is going well and I would probably leave it under the broody. I hope the baby makes it out ok!

Thanks Iain, well I'll just leave it up to mama and the Lord cause I sure have been praying for this lil duckling.

 

[Iain Utah]

We have another successful merger of goslings. We put Platinum (injured buff girl) with the two grey boys out with Barley & Co. All that is left inside is Spirit and her bestest girlfriend Ember. They seem to enjoy the space and are not stressing about the others gone. I caught Spirit stretching. First a full extension with wings flapping and then standing one-legged on knob, stretching out other leg. Her balance is especially good today.

 

[psue]

We have another successful merger of goslings. We put Platinum (injured buff girl) with the two grey boys out with Barley & Co. All that is left inside is Spirit and her bestest girlfriend Ember. They seem to enjoy the space and are not stressing about the others gone. I caught Spirit stretching. First a full extension with wings flapping and then standing one-legged on knob, stretching out other leg. Her balance is especially good today.

Gidzilla and his girls in new coop

 

[JulieNKC]

Spirit looks like she's happy and growing great despite her disability.

I think poor little me ended up with ALL pullets out of my EE's, lol. Now I have to search for a roo. I figure everyone's spring chicks should be growing up enough that people will be figuring out some of their "pullets" are boys, and I should be able to find them a roo relatively easy. Think I might try to find an auracana roo for some interesting little future EE chicks.

 

[Goin Quackrrs]

Goin ... $5 - $7 each straight run is the usual asking price on the Lav Am
Wulf, weasels, raccoons (very young), skunks, and opposum can all get through chain link openings. It is reccomended to back side attach hardware cloth to it from the ground up going 2-3' high. It is also good to use it as a skirt across the ground (most burry it) 8-12" out away from the bottom of the chain link. Hog rings and the pliers to close them make the best way to attach hardware cloth to itself or another wire.
Iain.... Glad the vet gave a good check up last night. What fencing are you using on your yards? Make sure it isn't something like chicken wire that bends easily. As they get bigger they can and often will walk right over it. Also be careful with the younger outside without cover. You would be surprised what predators are around you never thought you had.

Thanks! That was about what I expected. I'd love to keep them, but I'm not keen on building a chicken house when I already have to expand the duck area.

Thanks, guys!! Spirit looks good this morning. I think she has fully recovered from overexerting herself the other day. I look forward to starting her on her new physical therapy program today. We have a goal to build better callouses and leg strength by our next appt to hopefully increase outside time.

Quackers, very sorry about your rotten day. The lavender chicks are precious! Sure you don't want to keep them? I'm not a chicken person, but I'd be hard pressed to sell those adorable babies. What is hatch date on your silkie duckies? I wouldn't go anywhere on that day, if it were me. They are your birthday babies!

Celtic, my goslings' yards are fenced with 4ft tall 14g no climb fence. Alpha gander (boy, does he ever want to adopt every single gosling.... greedy bird) spends most of his day guarding perimeter of fence and our dogs are also outside a lot, too (they share back fence line which is double fenced with 12 g field and 14 g no climb. There are shelters in the yards, but they don't seem to use them.

We got our 1st predator alert yesterday. A raccoon is trying to get my neighbors' chicks. So he set a trap last night and we moved our bachelor duck flock back into coop to secure them at night. Hubby and I are debating on separating our cayuga breeding pair and leaving the rest in the coop as they are still young vs separating them into boys/girls. Either way, we took the warning seriously and will make them more secure. We are also in planning stage to make a secure pen to lock up the africans at night (at least my favorite pair, No. 1 and Ebay), as I would be heartbroken to lose them and No. 1, being so much slower than the rest, is the likeliest target for a predator. I think the africans know something is up, because they have been sleeping on driveway in front of garage overnight recently.

The silkies hatch on the 16th. If it weren't my brother-in-law's fourth wedding, I'd totally be sleeping with the hatcher. I really don't want to spend five hours on the road to attend the silly thing, but hubby's feeling guilted because he missed brother's birthday. He seems to think it will be... fun.

Here are some photos of the new babies and the "'incubator tester" eggs I bought.


One Muscovy Duckling and two mini silver appleyard ducklings,



The newest muscovy duckling unless more of those eggs hatch...mama duck abandoned the eggs after the first three were born. I will have to get some photos of those soon too. The incubator has already come in handy.


The new mystery eggs I bought...at least a mystery to me. I sent off an email to find out what I was sent. The picture colors are not quite right for the next two photos.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...&ssPageName=ADME:X:AAQ:US:1123#ht_1270wt_1185



More of the mystery eggs.


Penciled Runner "incubator testing" eggs

Oh, such cuties! Can't believe you're using penciled runners as test eggs, those are pricey!

We have another successful merger of goslings. We put Platinum (injured buff girl) with the two grey boys out with Barley & Co. All that is left inside is Spirit and her bestest girlfriend Ember. They seem to enjoy the space and are not stressing about the others gone. I caught Spirit stretching. First a full extension with wings flapping and then standing one-legged on knob, stretching out other leg. Her balance is especially good today.

Go Spirit!

Spirit looks like she's happy and growing great despite her disability.

I think poor little me ended up with ALL pullets out of my EE's, lol. Now I have to search for a roo. I figure everyone's spring chicks should be growing up enough that people will be figuring out some of their "pullets" are boys, and I should be able to find them a roo relatively easy. Think I might try to find an auracana roo for some interesting little future EE chicks.

There should be lots of roos out there this time of year. I just came across two free welsh harlequin drakes. Was tempted for a minute.

 

[Goin Quackrrs]

Just got home from a childs birthday party. My poor son started crying when it was time to leave because he's afraid he'll never see his friends again. Poor kiddo.

Injured bei is chillin' out in the loft right now. It looks like the hip is sprained or something. Going to continue with quiet time and see what happens.

Oh, and guess who forgot to mark a hatch date on the calendar? I looked into my bator to check humidity and there's a little bill poking out of an egg!

Got three pipped and two more moving around. Hope I didn't set them back too bad by forgetting them!

 

[Iain Utah]

Thanks, guys!! We just finished our 30 minute outside play time. The girls had a blast and crashed right out when I put them back in pen.

Sue, nice coop set up!!

Julie, how to manage to hatch so many females? Wish everyone had that kind of luck! Don't think you will have any problems finding a boy. They are a dime a dozen here.

Quackers, his 4th wedding? Did you attend the 1st three? If so, stay home! Tell them you promise to attend the 5th wedding instead.