UPDATE! THEY ARE HATCHING!!!! Live NEST CAM link for my Muscovy hen

[WestKnollAmy]

How totally cool!
I watched a bear video all winter and saw the little cub after it was born. It had audio, too so I was thrilled to see and hear it every day.
This is going to be exciting to check on every day, too. I just put it on another tab and I can hear everything while I am working on my website or reading emails.
Ha! She heard someone's voice and boy did she perk up. She must know her Mama real well!
This is great!

 

[kitkatbahr]

Quote:
Aww, that is so cute. Glad to hear she noticed I was out there. I always talk to her and she usually chirps at me so I know she is okay. I went out to put the other ducks in their houses for the night, give fresh water for morning, etc. I spent some time in her pen with Rocky, her mate. I think he is lonely cause she has been sitting for so long and only comes out quickly for food, drink and a bath two times a day. Rocky is such a sweet, sweet drake. And he has such a neat color pattern. Cocoa is mostly all brown, except for some white on her wings. The babies should be beautiful. And Rocky and Cocoa both have great personalities. They are orphans that I raised last year. They were about two weeks old when I got them. Mama duck and all the other siblings got killed by hawks or coons or something. It happens alot around here.

Anyway, glad to hear she perked up when she heard me. That is so neat.

Enjoy the cam. The bear cam sounds like it would have been really neat too.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

I even love hearing the rain! That is so soothing at night.
I can't wait until I can have some Muscovy. She looks like a real sweetie and your drake, Rocky sounds fantastic.
Looking forward to little ducklies!

 

[PlumTuckered]

I checked it around 2:40 am and she was busy moving eggs, fluffing the nest up and then went back to sleep. I have hughes satellite for internet and they limit the bandwidth so I can only watch streaming videos or youtubes between the hours of 1am and 6 am. I enjoyed seeing your Gal and was so happy she was doing something when I logged on LOL

Michelle

 

[keeperofthehearth]

Awww, how sweet! What a cool idea. I put her on another tab also and while I'm writing this I can her birds singing in the background. Now if I hear peeping I can just swing over to check. How fun!!!!

 

[kitkatbahr]

I'm glad everyone is enjoying the ducky cam! LOL It rained really, really hard this morning. I have not seen her get off the nest at all today. It has cleared up now and the sun is trying to shine. She has moved around a bit, and moved the eggs around, but not much else is happening.

I am thinking that my two Pekin eggs may not have been viable. She had thrown ouit about 6 eggs throughout the hatch and they may have been some of them. The Pekins should have started hatching now if they are still there as I messed up the days and had them in where they would hatch two days before the scovy eggs. That means that all that is left would be Muscovy eggs. They should hatch tomorrow or Wednesday, which means we should see some activity from the eggs soon. I don't know how loud they peep in the eggs or if the microphone will pick it up. My husband thought he heard a "tapping" sound early this morning. I am hoping he did and that it was somebody trying to pip! I have never, ever hatched eggs before, in an incubator or by having a hen do it. The school did some of my eggs in an incubator and Sunny (Pekin) is the only one that hatched (she had major problems with the temp/humidity and turning). So, I have not seen the process. I only remember what I have read about others hatching. Hopefully I am using the terminology right. LOL

Thank you all for sharing in this exciting time in our ducky life!

Kathy

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Day 35! I hope we see babies real soon!
Too bad about the one not fertilized. I guess she knew and maybe that is why the other eggs were out of the nest earlier.
Did you not try to candle any?
I do it sometimes when the hens are sitting to see if I can replace any eggs that are viable with any that are not developing or maybe give chicks to the ones that have sat so diligently but won't have babies to hatch.
I know Cocoa will go on with her life if none hatch but it seems so sad.

 

[Stina]

why are there so many bugs on that egg in the back?...

 

[WestKnollAmy]

My gosh! She is really talking and moving those eggs around right now! It may be getting close! Come on, Cocoa!

The egg in the back might have had something on it. It is pretty buggy down in FL right now and with all that rain I bet those bugs are out in hoardes!

 

[kitkatbahr]

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!