- May 18, 2012
- 25
- 1
- 34
Hello,
This is my first post, and I am new to BYC - so sorry if this is a redundant question.
I just incubated several eggs in an older model Hova Bator as a homeschooling experiment
with my kids. We got runner duck eggs from a friend - the eggs were a few days old when we got them and kept cool until
we put them into the incubator. The incubator settings were adjusted a few days before we began to make sure there
were no temp spikes. The initial temp. (for the first 26 days) was 99.5 F. I used a very good humidigraph (husband is a woodworker, so he let us borrow his shop humidigraph) - humidity was only at 75%. I couldn't figure out how to increase it to 86% - (isn't that the recommended %?) so we just went for it.
The eggs developed well - candling every few days, good development and movement.
Temp was consistent, humidity was consistent, turned 3 to 7 times each day. We sprayed with a fine mister once or twice a day.
At day 26 we lowered the temp to 98.5 F, and I added 5 new (rinsed out) sponges to increase the humidity. It went up to 85%.
We stopped misting, candled daily, but didn't allow the incubator to remain open for longer that a few seconds each time we retrieved an egg. Day 29, no internal pipping, incubator stunk in the morning, and we had lost a baby. We cracked the egg open
and it was perfectly developed - no idea what had happened. Day 30, one baby had pipped internally, but no external pipping.
the night of the 31st day we filed the egg at the air pocket and poked a hole. We could see the baby with the internal pip moving,
but by am it was still in the same place. Each baby was active in the she;ll at this point. I read that day 32 was the end, so I decided to open the shell and the membrane.
The babies were still alive, the one who'd pipped internally was peeping and moving a tiny bit - but not a lot. I freed the bills of the others from the membranes - careful not to nick any veins. they were breathing, but not moving much at all.
the one who had a bit more vigor, i slipped from the membrane, so it was just attached to the egg sack and shell by it's belly.
the egg sack was still fairly large, about 1 1/8th inch diameter. The duckling was very wet in the incubator, and I was trying to moisten the egg sack without wetting it's body, but got worried about ti's body temp. and moved it under a heat lamp. The other babied had died in the meantime, and the bid guy died a few minutes after the move to the dryer environment.
This was very very emotionally stressful, and I am not wanting a repeat to this experience. My kids want to try again so we have some new eggs we ordered from Metzer's. The shells of the last batch were SUPER hard, and difficult to crack even for us after the
babies were dead.
Do any of you have suggestions for this next round? Was our humidity too low? I assumed that because the ducklings were developing that they were ok - making it to the end and not getting out of the shell was not in my mind as a possibility!
Thanks for any advice!
Pia
This is my first post, and I am new to BYC - so sorry if this is a redundant question.
I just incubated several eggs in an older model Hova Bator as a homeschooling experiment
with my kids. We got runner duck eggs from a friend - the eggs were a few days old when we got them and kept cool until
we put them into the incubator. The incubator settings were adjusted a few days before we began to make sure there
were no temp spikes. The initial temp. (for the first 26 days) was 99.5 F. I used a very good humidigraph (husband is a woodworker, so he let us borrow his shop humidigraph) - humidity was only at 75%. I couldn't figure out how to increase it to 86% - (isn't that the recommended %?) so we just went for it.
The eggs developed well - candling every few days, good development and movement.
Temp was consistent, humidity was consistent, turned 3 to 7 times each day. We sprayed with a fine mister once or twice a day.
At day 26 we lowered the temp to 98.5 F, and I added 5 new (rinsed out) sponges to increase the humidity. It went up to 85%.
We stopped misting, candled daily, but didn't allow the incubator to remain open for longer that a few seconds each time we retrieved an egg. Day 29, no internal pipping, incubator stunk in the morning, and we had lost a baby. We cracked the egg open
and it was perfectly developed - no idea what had happened. Day 30, one baby had pipped internally, but no external pipping.
the night of the 31st day we filed the egg at the air pocket and poked a hole. We could see the baby with the internal pip moving,
but by am it was still in the same place. Each baby was active in the she;ll at this point. I read that day 32 was the end, so I decided to open the shell and the membrane.
The babies were still alive, the one who'd pipped internally was peeping and moving a tiny bit - but not a lot. I freed the bills of the others from the membranes - careful not to nick any veins. they were breathing, but not moving much at all.
the one who had a bit more vigor, i slipped from the membrane, so it was just attached to the egg sack and shell by it's belly.
the egg sack was still fairly large, about 1 1/8th inch diameter. The duckling was very wet in the incubator, and I was trying to moisten the egg sack without wetting it's body, but got worried about ti's body temp. and moved it under a heat lamp. The other babied had died in the meantime, and the bid guy died a few minutes after the move to the dryer environment.
This was very very emotionally stressful, and I am not wanting a repeat to this experience. My kids want to try again so we have some new eggs we ordered from Metzer's. The shells of the last batch were SUPER hard, and difficult to crack even for us after the
babies were dead.
Do any of you have suggestions for this next round? Was our humidity too low? I assumed that because the ducklings were developing that they were ok - making it to the end and not getting out of the shell was not in my mind as a possibility!
Thanks for any advice!
Pia
