Thread formerly known as Hatch day is today

[Iain Utah]

Busy day on the thread... and even busier here at my house. So I'm not going to try to comment in a long string quote, but I want to say congrats to those that are hatching, sorry to those that are having problems, and best of luck to those setting eggs.

Christine, JenC is on byc and checks her pm's regularly, but does not chat on threads. She is awesome, one of her Saxonies won best in breed at a major Cali show last month, and I highly recommend her for Saxony hatching eggs!!

 

[ChristineR]

So my 4 eggs that internally pipped never did externally and in my opinion either because my humidity gauge I found out was off or I didn't intervene early enough they were dead in the shell once I did intervene it was already to late. We had a little funeral also. I had already preordered eggs so I'm setting them tomorrow and I have two question......1) I don't have a forced air, I ordered a fan but if I set tomorrow I don't get my fan in the mail for a few days so when I candle on day 7 could my husband install the fan real quick or will the environment change hurt anything (or can I just lower the temp for the forced air)?  And.   2) does anyone do dry incubation for duck eggs & if so did it increase your hatch rate?

Dry incubation success depends on the humidity where you live. I was over at my brother's in laws' house last weekend and her little gauge that shows the temp/pressure/ humidity said the relative humidity was 86% in the house. So "dry" incubation here is a lot different than, say, Nevada or So Cal.

I just lost a duckling that seemed like it didn't lose enough moisture. He also tried to pip through a blood vessel, so who knows what killed him. Anyway, I think my humidity was a little high and I had my incubator dry for part of the time. I have another egg that I suspect might be the same. Both of these eggs were from my ducks that lay a little bigger eggs than the others.

Busy day on the thread... and even busier here at my house.  So I'm not going to try to comment in a long string quote, but I want to say congrats to those that are hatching, sorry to those that are having problems, and best of luck to those setting eggs.

Christine, JenC is on byc and checks her pm's regularly, but does not chat on threads.   She is awesome, one of her Saxonies won best in breed at a major Cali show last month, and I highly recommend her for Saxony hatching eggs!!

Ok, thanks for the tip. I'll try to find her.

 

[psue]

five of the six new babies.. 3 more eggs have pipped

 

[Goin Quackrrs]

five of the six new babies.. 3 more eggs have pipped

 

[Goin Quackrrs]

Want to read something a little disturbing?

http://www.blisstree.com/2013/03/21/food/genetics-duck-fathers-chicken/

Scientists injected chicken dna into a drake and he fathered a chicken. Huh? Just not right!

 

[Kevin565]

Want to read something a little disturbing?

http://www.blisstree.com/2013/03/21/food/genetics-duck-fathers-chicken/

Scientists injected chicken dna into a drake and he fathered a chicken. Huh? Just not right!

 

[JulieNKC]

Dry incubation success depends on the humidity where you live. I was over at my brother's in laws' house last weekend and her little gauge that shows the temp/pressure/ humidity said the relative humidity was 86% in the house. So "dry" incubation here is a lot different than, say, Nevada or So Cal.

I just lost a duckling that seemed like it didn't lose enough moisture. He also tried to pip through a blood vessel, so who knows what killed him. Anyway, I think my humidity was a little high and I had my incubator dry for part of the time. I have another egg that I suspect might be the same. Both of these eggs were from my ducks that lay a little bigger eggs than the others.
Ok, thanks for the tip. I'll try to find her.

I had the same thing happen here. I keep my humidity around 40%. The last duck egg to pip pipped through a vein. I'd forgot what day I set the eggs, and the air cell was small enough on that one I didn't have it on lockdown, it looked days away at least. Then I went to turn it and the air cell was red, he'd hit a fairly big one. I don't know if he lost too much blood or just pipped too early or what.

five of the six new babies.. 3 more eggs have pipped

Love little yellow duckies!

Want to read something a little disturbing?

http://www.blisstree.com/2013/03/21/food/genetics-duck-fathers-chicken/

Scientists injected chicken dna into a drake and he fathered a chicken. Huh? Just not right!

 

[ducklover87]

I'm very new to this whole incubation thing so I have a few questions. Ive been basing everything off chookschick's incubation cheat sheet and I think I've done pretty good so far. My incubator has been steady at 99.5 F and I hand turn the eggs 3 times a day. I only have 4 eggs (which is why i hand turn)because its my first time using an incubator and I know I have lesser chances to hatch them. Today is the 7th day. What do I look for when candling the eggs? I know you can candle them at 7 days but should I wait a couple more days that way I'll be sure to see what I'm looking for if its there? I'm very unsure of what to do. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[ChristineR]

I'm very new to this whole incubation thing so I have a few questions. Ive been basing everything off chookschick's incubation cheat sheet and I think I've done pretty good so far. My incubator has been steady at 99.5 F and I hand turn the eggs 3 times a day. I only have 4 eggs (which is why i hand turn)because its my first time using an incubator and I know I have lesser chances to hatch them. Today is the 7th day. What do I look for when candling the eggs? I know you can candle them at 7 days but should I wait a couple more days that way I'll be sure to see what I'm looking for if its there? I'm very unsure of what to do. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Go ahead and candle. You should see veins and a little "blob." I wouldn't toss any eggs yet, though, if they look clear. Give them a few more days.

So far I have 3 ducklings hatched and none of them are black or chocolate. I was expecting some black because half of my hens are black. What the heck? Seems unlikely, but my drakes are blue and silver.

 

[Iain Utah]

five of the six new babies.. 3 more eggs have pipped

Congrats!!!

Go ahead and candle. You should see veins and a little "blob." I wouldn't toss any eggs yet, though, if they look clear. Give them a few more days.

So far I have 3 ducklings hatched and none of them are black or chocolate. I was expecting some black because half of my hens are black. What the heck? Seems unlikely, but my drakes are blue and silver.

Congrats!!!