Thread formerly known as Hatch day is today

[quirkybeeper]

Well, I'll give it a shot. My best advice is to focus more on humidity, fill your trays and maybe even place a wet rag near the egg. Then lock it down and don't open the bator/touch the egg anymore, hard as that is to do.

Others may have better/more advice. Goo luck and sorry you only had one to make it. Can you get a friend for him/her? What is it that you're hatching?

Not opening the bator is going to be an extreme test of my self control, because I really want to see when it's pipped internally!!

It's a little Pekin. I have one drake and one duck as pets, this is their duckling. My duck has gone broody twice now and just gave up within a few days of when they should have hatched. I really wanted ducklings though so this time I collected the eggs to incubate them myself. That's the only reason I don't want to get another duckling right now, I want to make sure I don't end up with 3 drakes and one female lol

 

[carcar80]

Awww well that sounds goo actually, at least there are other feathered friends. I've had great luck in the past, having a Pekin girl being very accepting of whatever kind of babies I threw her way. They seem to be willing to show a kid the ropes, just aren't much good for incubating lol. So I bet it'll be just fine.

 

[quirkybeeper]

I'm trying SO HARD to keep my hands out of the incubator but it's killing me that I can't see what's going on inside the egg!! I'm tempted to go to the store and get one of those flashlights with the long flexible neck that I can shove through a vent hole to see what's happening lol

It started peeping at me last night and it's been wiggling a lot, and of course I'm just sitting here with my nose glued to the little observation window. My nerves are just shot at this point, I really don't want anything to go wrong! And I keep wondering how much air is in that air cell, I don't want it to run out of air and suffocate!

 

[carcar80]

Yay!! Sounds like it's going great! And we all know what you mean. I'm usually able to get the room pitch dark and just shine a strong light *at* the egg.. If you try lots of angles, you can usually get it to pass thru the egg where you can see at least shadowy movement.

 

[quirkybeeper]

Yay!! I just happened to be looking away...sitting right next to the incubator, but looking away, when the duckling externally pipped early this morning

Now I really think I may go completely mad, I want a good hatch with no problems! I keep seeing horror stories about all the things that could go wrong...after 28 days of turning several times a day, I'd hate for it to go wrong now!

 

[JulieNKC]

Hi everyone! Cant believe this thread is still going. Hows everyones hatching going? I haven't had a hatch for a few months. Too cold to put my oldest babies out and no room for more until then. And one of my ducklings just will not grow, so they may be inside a long time. They are seven weeks old, both hatched the same day, same parents ( a call and a bei )

 

[BlackAce]

Nice!!!! Are they Cayuga ducks?

 

[quirkybeeper]

I was so worried, but a darling little Pekin just hatched!!

She finally settled down and is resting now...time for me to take a nap!!

 

[JulieNKC]

Cute duckling! Congrats!

 

[quirkybeeper]

Ok I know this is probably a silly question, but would it be ok to use a damp cloth to clean up my little ducky? She still has a little gook on her from hatching, and I want to clean her up a bit. I know I can't give her a bath, and I'll need to make sure she's plenty warm while she dries off.