OneEggToRuleThemAll
Songster
Hi everyone, I'm new here. To make a long (and slightly embarrassing) story short, I have this egg. It's a duck egg. Its name is Bobby. I never planned on getting ducks (but now we've got four ducklings arriving in the mail today from Metzer Farms)! But anyway, back to the egg. I brought it home on October 25th. I did not have an incubator, so after scouring the internet for "DIY egg incubator" info, I sort of made one with a cooler (and a lamp, a couple towels, and two mason jars full of water). I've been taking ridiculously good care of this egg, getting up 2-4 times every night to take its temp, turn and mist it, and talk to it and tell it I love it and to please hatch for the love of all things holy because my children will be so upset if it doesn't.
So. Now it's day 29 since bringing it home, but that's counting the day that I started incubating it, which was late in the afternoon, so isn't today technically day 28?
Well, I've been candling it. A lot. Probably more than most of you recommend. And he's still in there moving around. The air cell is not quite as big as I thought it would be...for example, it looks like day 24 in this candling picture. Which is super weird because here's the thing...for the first, um, three-ish weeks, I did not have any kind of cover on my plastic cooler incubator and no hygrometer (please don't judge, I was trying hard but learning from a variety of blogs--I didn't have my Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks at the time--I do now!), so although I was generally keeping eggshell temp between 97 and 101 (with a few lower dips and a few higher highs for a couple hours at a time), the humidity couldn't have been more than 50% or so (air conditioned house in NE Florida). So once I learned all about how gosh darn important consistent humidity is when incubating eggs, I took a piece of glass out of a long-ish picture frame and put it on top of the cooler (and vented two corners by turning the piece of glass at an angle--I am regularly shifting the glass to regulate the humidity and temp), and bought a little hygrometer from the pet store. So since Saturday, which was day 25 (but now I realize it might actually have been day 24 if I start counting the day AFTER I began incubating the egg), I put the egg on lockdown (no more turning, though I still mist regularly to regulate humidity) and humidity levels have been 70-80%.
Okay. That's a lot. And there's more. Thank you for reading this far. <3
So here we are. Day 29 or 28, and I (gently, without turning) candled as recently as 3:00 this morning. Bobby is still alive in there, but no shadowing that I can see, and no internal pipping. I have learned by this point that his hatch date may likely be delayed because temperature has not been constant throughout incubation, but shouldn't he have internally pipped by now? But if he hasn't internally pipped, there's nothing to be done anyway, right? I mean, I've watched videos and read threads about people who have helped call ducks internally pip, but uh, no way. In lots of those threads and videos, up to half the birds didn't make it! As a retired (human) midwife, I know how important it is to let him hatch by himself. I'm worried about shrink wrapping because of the inconsistent humidity levels, but...wouldn't that mean the air cell would be much bigger? WHY ISN'T HE HATCHING GAHHHHHHH!!
And here's the kicker. So Bobby the Egg came from a pond housing a flock of pekins (I counted one drake and four ducks) ANNNDDDDD one muscovy drake. The muscovy drake seems to have been transient, as he's no longer there. BUT. WHAT IS THE CHANCE THAT THIS EGG IS HALF MUSCOVY and could THAT be the reason his air cell isn't bigger and no internal pipping yet?? The pekins didn't seem to hang out with the muscovy drake...he was kind of doing his own thing on the other side of the pond. But he was there! And now he's gone! What if he went there just to breed and now my egg is half muscovy?!
I'm reaching here, aren't I. I'm super stressed out about this and am so TIRED of waking up so much during the night to do all the things that I could have avoided if I'd just a) left the egg on the sidewalk and b) ignored my husband and just bought that expensive-ass incubator at Tractor Supply.
Please someone tell me my egg might still hatch. <3
So. Now it's day 29 since bringing it home, but that's counting the day that I started incubating it, which was late in the afternoon, so isn't today technically day 28?
Well, I've been candling it. A lot. Probably more than most of you recommend. And he's still in there moving around. The air cell is not quite as big as I thought it would be...for example, it looks like day 24 in this candling picture. Which is super weird because here's the thing...for the first, um, three-ish weeks, I did not have any kind of cover on my plastic cooler incubator and no hygrometer (please don't judge, I was trying hard but learning from a variety of blogs--I didn't have my Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks at the time--I do now!), so although I was generally keeping eggshell temp between 97 and 101 (with a few lower dips and a few higher highs for a couple hours at a time), the humidity couldn't have been more than 50% or so (air conditioned house in NE Florida). So once I learned all about how gosh darn important consistent humidity is when incubating eggs, I took a piece of glass out of a long-ish picture frame and put it on top of the cooler (and vented two corners by turning the piece of glass at an angle--I am regularly shifting the glass to regulate the humidity and temp), and bought a little hygrometer from the pet store. So since Saturday, which was day 25 (but now I realize it might actually have been day 24 if I start counting the day AFTER I began incubating the egg), I put the egg on lockdown (no more turning, though I still mist regularly to regulate humidity) and humidity levels have been 70-80%.
Okay. That's a lot. And there's more. Thank you for reading this far. <3
So here we are. Day 29 or 28, and I (gently, without turning) candled as recently as 3:00 this morning. Bobby is still alive in there, but no shadowing that I can see, and no internal pipping. I have learned by this point that his hatch date may likely be delayed because temperature has not been constant throughout incubation, but shouldn't he have internally pipped by now? But if he hasn't internally pipped, there's nothing to be done anyway, right? I mean, I've watched videos and read threads about people who have helped call ducks internally pip, but uh, no way. In lots of those threads and videos, up to half the birds didn't make it! As a retired (human) midwife, I know how important it is to let him hatch by himself. I'm worried about shrink wrapping because of the inconsistent humidity levels, but...wouldn't that mean the air cell would be much bigger? WHY ISN'T HE HATCHING GAHHHHHHH!!
And here's the kicker. So Bobby the Egg came from a pond housing a flock of pekins (I counted one drake and four ducks) ANNNDDDDD one muscovy drake. The muscovy drake seems to have been transient, as he's no longer there. BUT. WHAT IS THE CHANCE THAT THIS EGG IS HALF MUSCOVY and could THAT be the reason his air cell isn't bigger and no internal pipping yet?? The pekins didn't seem to hang out with the muscovy drake...he was kind of doing his own thing on the other side of the pond. But he was there! And now he's gone! What if he went there just to breed and now my egg is half muscovy?!
I'm reaching here, aren't I. I'm super stressed out about this and am so TIRED of waking up so much during the night to do all the things that I could have avoided if I'd just a) left the egg on the sidewalk and b) ignored my husband and just bought that expensive-ass incubator at Tractor Supply.
Please someone tell me my egg might still hatch. <3
