- Apr 19, 2011
- 14
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Last night I brought an duck egg into the house. It had the date March 21 on it and there was no noise and a air of stillness. I made the assumption that it was no longer alive as the hatch date should have been around the 17-20 of April and the other 3 eggs had hatched and the ducklings had gone to a good home. I was just going to chuck it, but thought that this could be a learning experience. Because we count on 3 broody hens to do our hatching, many things could go wrong. Our little Arizona (notice the turquoise earrings)
(the apple of my husband's eye, sometimes gets bored with the broody life and walks off the job. When she does this we have no choice but to split her eggs up among the other two dedicated girls. Because these are duck eggs, it is necessary to spray the eggs with luke warm water once a day, maybe it was not enough? Anyway, I was sad that this little egg had not made it.
I listened for a peep, felt for a rock or sign of life, but nothing. I had read that to have a safe look, you can put a tiny hole in the air sac, so I did. ...nothing. I removed a tiny bit of shell and another. To my horror I hear a tiny...peep. What had I done. I called my husband who came and had a look. With a light, through the little hole we saw a tiny brown body struggling for life. It was alive. We removed the egg and it's tiny little resident to the aquarium that we use for the ducklings after hatching to keep warm. Before going to bed around midniight I checked the heat of the aquarium which was just below 100F. I could now see the tiny breathing thing. I pray that it lives but wonder why it has taken so many more day to hatch than the rest. Our fertility rate is still 100% which is good for hatching out our Khaki Campbell ducklings and I have been told that an early birthday present will arrive on Monday....a new Brinsea incubator...thankyou Wes...I love you!
Should anyone want some Khaki Campbell hatching eggs, we will have some when the orders are finishes for the month. Looking forward to May and the hatching of baby chicks, another adventure.
(the apple of my husband's eye, sometimes gets bored with the broody life and walks off the job. When she does this we have no choice but to split her eggs up among the other two dedicated girls. Because these are duck eggs, it is necessary to spray the eggs with luke warm water once a day, maybe it was not enough? Anyway, I was sad that this little egg had not made it.I listened for a peep, felt for a rock or sign of life, but nothing. I had read that to have a safe look, you can put a tiny hole in the air sac, so I did. ...nothing. I removed a tiny bit of shell and another. To my horror I hear a tiny...peep. What had I done. I called my husband who came and had a look. With a light, through the little hole we saw a tiny brown body struggling for life. It was alive. We removed the egg and it's tiny little resident to the aquarium that we use for the ducklings after hatching to keep warm. Before going to bed around midniight I checked the heat of the aquarium which was just below 100F. I could now see the tiny breathing thing. I pray that it lives but wonder why it has taken so many more day to hatch than the rest. Our fertility rate is still 100% which is good for hatching out our Khaki Campbell ducklings and I have been told that an early birthday present will arrive on Monday....a new Brinsea incubator...thankyou Wes...I love you!
Should anyone want some Khaki Campbell hatching eggs, we will have some when the orders are finishes for the month. Looking forward to May and the hatching of baby chicks, another adventure.
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