I'm sure my questions have been asked before, so I apologize in advance if these are dumb or "duh" questions. I'll try to keep the backstory short.
On June 11 (two weeks ago tomorrow) we ended up with 8 unexpected ducklings. One of our Pekin hens had a pile of eggs under the coop, but (foolishly) we didn't expect anything to happen with them because she left the nest every night, willingly, to go into the house with the other ducks and chickens. (I realize allowing them to stay together at night may night be ideal but the ducks moved in with the chickens and decided they were going in the house at night. Everyone seems happy about it so I'm not going to argue with them.) Anyway, since no one was sitting on the eggs at night, for like 10 hrs maybe, I didn't think they could develop. It was getting into the low 70's at night around that time. Anyway. The night of June 11 we found one wet duckling "running" around the yard after the ducks and chickens went to bed. Then I looked under the coop and found 7 more eggs that had pipped. I brought all the eggs and duckling into the house and made a temporary incubator for the eggs. The hatched duckling got wrapped in a cloth and tucked into my bra to keep warm. Most hatched fine on their own. Two pipped away from their air cell, one with the back of his head towards the air cell and one was completely breech with his butt towards the air cell. The one that had his head near the air cell eventually hatched out on his own but I had to help the full breech. Followed instructions I found on here and everything went smoothly. All 8 ducklings seem to be growing great...albeit a bit spoiled. Their brooder is in our master bedroom...they run to me every time they see me.
Now that I'm failing at keeping it short (sorry!), I'll get to the questions part. After finding these ducklings, I checked the yard for more nests. Didn't find anymore hiding but did find a chicken and duck sharing a nest inside the coop. I managed to get them away so I could candle the eggs and didn't find any that had obvious development. That was June 12, then on the 16th, we found 3 dead and 1 dying, fully formed ducklings out of shells, and one dead part way out of a shell. I decided to take the rest of the eggs inside and put them in an incubator. I've never hatched eggs in an incubator before, had to go buy one... absolutely silliness. Anyway. I have no idea how I missed 5 ducklings that were so close to hatching when I candled on 6/12. I didn't see a single egg with anything dark in it.
I can't remember how many eggs I brought in, but only have 2 in the incubator that are developing. One was just starting to show veining on 6/16, the other looks a good deal older. I could see his head and feet and he moved around a lot. I've been calling that egg Bill Bill. He looks like he's about ready to hatch now, hardly any to in his shell and air cell growing nicely. The other duckling is developing nicely too I think. I've never seen a duckling that early in development so he looks very odd to me. Sometimes I could swear it looks like there are two eye spots that move around when I candle the egg. I've tried getting a picture but my phone camera refuses to cooperate. I keep telling myself that one of the dark spots is something in his body. The spots are the same size...are there usually two dark spots that you'll see when you candle duck eggs?
I'm prepared to move Bill Bill into a hatching incubator if he needs higher humidity or anything once he's ready. I'm guessing incubating eggs this far apart in age (I'm guessing close to 2 weeks) probably isn't ideal but my other option was to let them get killed by their moms. If all goes well and Bill Bill hatches, can he go in the brooder with the big (2 week old) ducklings? They're sweet for the most part but VERY energetic too. It'll probably be another couple weeks before the other egg is close to hatch time so I'm not sure what other option I have for Bill Bill. The one duckling that needed complete assistance hatching is a bit smaller than the other 7 and they don't bother him at all so maybe they'll play nice?
On June 11 (two weeks ago tomorrow) we ended up with 8 unexpected ducklings. One of our Pekin hens had a pile of eggs under the coop, but (foolishly) we didn't expect anything to happen with them because she left the nest every night, willingly, to go into the house with the other ducks and chickens. (I realize allowing them to stay together at night may night be ideal but the ducks moved in with the chickens and decided they were going in the house at night. Everyone seems happy about it so I'm not going to argue with them.) Anyway, since no one was sitting on the eggs at night, for like 10 hrs maybe, I didn't think they could develop. It was getting into the low 70's at night around that time. Anyway. The night of June 11 we found one wet duckling "running" around the yard after the ducks and chickens went to bed. Then I looked under the coop and found 7 more eggs that had pipped. I brought all the eggs and duckling into the house and made a temporary incubator for the eggs. The hatched duckling got wrapped in a cloth and tucked into my bra to keep warm. Most hatched fine on their own. Two pipped away from their air cell, one with the back of his head towards the air cell and one was completely breech with his butt towards the air cell. The one that had his head near the air cell eventually hatched out on his own but I had to help the full breech. Followed instructions I found on here and everything went smoothly. All 8 ducklings seem to be growing great...albeit a bit spoiled. Their brooder is in our master bedroom...they run to me every time they see me.
Now that I'm failing at keeping it short (sorry!), I'll get to the questions part. After finding these ducklings, I checked the yard for more nests. Didn't find anymore hiding but did find a chicken and duck sharing a nest inside the coop. I managed to get them away so I could candle the eggs and didn't find any that had obvious development. That was June 12, then on the 16th, we found 3 dead and 1 dying, fully formed ducklings out of shells, and one dead part way out of a shell. I decided to take the rest of the eggs inside and put them in an incubator. I've never hatched eggs in an incubator before, had to go buy one... absolutely silliness. Anyway. I have no idea how I missed 5 ducklings that were so close to hatching when I candled on 6/12. I didn't see a single egg with anything dark in it.
I can't remember how many eggs I brought in, but only have 2 in the incubator that are developing. One was just starting to show veining on 6/16, the other looks a good deal older. I could see his head and feet and he moved around a lot. I've been calling that egg Bill Bill. He looks like he's about ready to hatch now, hardly any to in his shell and air cell growing nicely. The other duckling is developing nicely too I think. I've never seen a duckling that early in development so he looks very odd to me. Sometimes I could swear it looks like there are two eye spots that move around when I candle the egg. I've tried getting a picture but my phone camera refuses to cooperate. I keep telling myself that one of the dark spots is something in his body. The spots are the same size...are there usually two dark spots that you'll see when you candle duck eggs?
I'm prepared to move Bill Bill into a hatching incubator if he needs higher humidity or anything once he's ready. I'm guessing incubating eggs this far apart in age (I'm guessing close to 2 weeks) probably isn't ideal but my other option was to let them get killed by their moms. If all goes well and Bill Bill hatches, can he go in the brooder with the big (2 week old) ducklings? They're sweet for the most part but VERY energetic too. It'll probably be another couple weeks before the other egg is close to hatch time so I'm not sure what other option I have for Bill Bill. The one duckling that needed complete assistance hatching is a bit smaller than the other 7 and they don't bother him at all so maybe they'll play nice?
