Wild Waterfowl Incubation (9 hatched!) + Lots of great info!

[1lpoock]

Okay, today I took the eggs from the wood duck who was sitting on them for 3 weeks (I feel kind of bad, but I think it would be harder to take the babies from her). I also took some of the ringed teals eggs (she hasn't started sitting yet) and left one so she continues to lay. I candled the wood duck eggs quickly before putting them in the incubator and 4 look like they have babies inside, 2 were infertile, 2 have a reddish inside (i think they are babies that formed a little and died), and 2 look rotten. I put everything in except the rotten ones and the infertile ones. The two rotten ones have spots of almost black you can see all around the shell...are they bad for sure? I hope I at least get two babies to hatch from the wood duck! And it is certainly true that fertility isn't as good their first year...pictures to follow!

 

[1lpoock]

Okay I ended up with only 3 wood duck eggs in the incubator and 3 ringed teal. I took 10 eggs from the wood duck and ended up with three

...most were infertile (which I understand) and then the two that were rotten. Lets hope for a good hatch with the remaining eggs

...oh and I plan to keep taking any more eggs laid in the nests for a while, then I will let them lay a clutch to sit on themselves.

 

[Scott]

If I wasn't certain that the eggs were bad, I'd continue to let them incubate a few more days. I don't think it can hurt. If you don't notice any growth within the next few days, then you can be certain they aren't good and discard them.

On a side note, I broke down an ordered 10 white mandarin eggs this evening. I can't wait on my white pair to start laying any longer, so I'm going to incubating these myself. Well, not literally of course... you know what I mean.

 

[1lpoock]

Haha yeah I know what you mean! Hopefully the ones you are getting aren't from first year birds because I now realize that, although they lay the eggs, the fertility stinks!

Oh and I threw all except three out, I was sure they were bad. You could tell they were infertile and there was even a blood ring in one. Trust me, I'm not one to just throw the eggs out, but I was sure these weren't going to make it.

 

[1lpoock]

Here are a few pictures of the breeding birds this year! The sun was out just right and really made the wood duck look nice...

Ringed Teal Nest

Ringed Teal Female

Male Wood Duck

Ringed Teal Male

And one of the aviary in spring!

 

[1lpoock]

UPDATE:

Wood Duck
Three eggs made it to lockdown today. Two look like they will probably hatch, the other one I'm unsure about.

Here is one of the eggs being candled...its hard to take pics of but theres a baby moving around inside!!

Mandarins
We have two eggs in on day four, no candling yet.

Ringed Teal
Two eggs on day four, and four eggs on day 5 ....all have veins!!!
Also, two more eggs in a nestbox I will be taking out soon!

 

[LALADY1101]

What are you running your humidity at for the wood duck eggs?

 

[AngieChick]

Wow, your setup is incredible, and your ducks are gorgeous. Especially that wood duck, too cute. I know that we have wild ones around, but they are so reclusive that I have never seen one.

 

[chickenlittle32]

I don't know if you remember me posting a thread a while back about how to incubate wood duck eggs...well...they hatched! I didn't do anything special to incubate...I did it the same way I incubate chicken eggs and I got 8/12 to hatch!!! Good luck with your hatch and beautiful set up!

 

[1lpoock]

Yeah I remember... Congrats on the hatch! I have been running my humidity at 50-60% but now for hatching I'll hike it up to about 70%. The mother sat on the wood duck eggs the first three weeks and when I took them away, she only had about three that were still good... Maybe I should just incubate them all myself next time.