Hi all,
The bugs are probably flies. When the egg kind of exploded this a.m. some of it probably got on the other egg. My husband got some tongs and reached through the fence and got the nasty egg out and the nesting material around it, as best he could.
As for candling them, it wasn't possible as where she has them, it is very hard to get to them. They are underneath a hutch that is up on a cinder block turned sideways, so only about 6 inches clearance. The front of the hutch has a ramp that goes down it. When she first started the nest, we couldn't even see the eggs from the backside, which is the view you now have from the camera. Then, as she went along, she kept moving it farther back until she is up near the fence, as you can see. In order to candle the eggs, we would have to get them from the nest and through the chainlink somehow, without dropping them, then put them back in the same way. We figured it was best to just let her be. So, it will be a surprise to see how many hatch.
She did kick some out throughout the hatch. Only one of them had a chick in it, and that was last week. It has stopped developing, I guess. All the others were just nasty yolk, like the one today. She seems to know which ones to get rid of. Although, I think she was surprised by the one today. I don't think she intentionally had it blow up in the nest. All the others she brought out of the nest and broke open. She had a hole in the shell and carried them out. I only saw her do that once, but I believe that is how she got them out each time. I guess she wanted to do the same with the one today, but it kind of exploded. Poor Cocoa, she ran out of there and jumped in the water and washed and washed her little face and head.
Anyway, I sure hope the others are fertile. This is her first hatch. She is only a year old, as is her mate, Rocky. I only ever saw him mate her once, unlike my Pekins, who do it anytime, anyplace, anywhere as much as they can!LOL Rocky seemed a bit more private about it.
I had given her two Pekin eggs and they should have started hatching two days ago (I messed up my math and they were to be 2 days early). I wanted them to hatch with the scovy eggs, but I messed up. Anyway, neither of them hatched, apparently, so I guess maybe they were some that had been kicked out earlier. I am even thinking that the little chick in the egg may have been a Pekin, as he seemed a bit more developed than I thought he would be.
I think most of my pekin eggs are probably fertile as I have two (very busy) boys and four girls, and they mate all the time! I don't know how fertile the muscovy eggs are, as when Cocoa started laying, she started her nest right away so ALL her eggs went to the nest and I never opened any of them. I just let her keep them. She had already laid 5 eggs before I even knew she was laying. Sneaky girl!
Well, we will see what tonight and tomorrow bring. She has been working so hard with these eggs, I sure hope a few of them hatch at least!
