Incubation

I am going to stop putting the days on here since we are incubating so many eggs.  I have 2 that are due in a couple more days, well actually next Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving.  I am getting very excited again I am really hoping that at least on of the baby ducks hatch out.  I am starting to feel like a failure.  I only have a 25% hatch rate as of right now.  My poor little Julia is so lonely in the brooder that all she does is cheep even with a mirror in the box.  I would love to give her a friend to cuddle with, play with, eat with and just grow up with someone.  I would hate for her to be alone the rest of her life until she is big enough to go in with the rest of the chickens but then she is still going to be alone since we don't have any more chicks going to hatch until December, and if they don't make it.  I hope i can give her a friend.

incubation day 30

Well Last night I cracked the eggs from my first two ducks and they were dead.  I cried.  No i didn't kill them but it may have been something I did while incubating them.  I didn't have my humidity up enough and it dried the inside of the egg up.  Everything in the egg was dry and hard.  So I raised the humidity, and was told that it would help.  Another lady that the ducks originally came from said that they have had to zip the eggs open and then let the ducks make their way out because all they feed them was laying mash.  So I have changed the feed to half corn and half laying mash, maybe it will help my chicks get out.  I also have 6 of my chicken eggs in the incubator and 5 are fertile.  We are going to keep incubating eggs because we are planning on have chicks to eat.  I have 2 ducks due the 23rd, lets everyone pray for my ducks.

Incubation Day 29

Well The baby ducks should be here any time now.  They were due yesterday but could be a couple days late since the temp wasn't exactly 100 or 101.  It always stayed between 97 and 99 degrees.  Is it could be another couple days.  Also I have dual purpose chickens due December 1st and 2nd. My chicken eggs are fertile so I will be about to give the lady some of my baby chickens since she has given me some duck eggs.  I am so glad this year is starting to look up because the first half sucked really bad.

Incubation Day 26

Today is day 26 for the first 2 duck eggs.  They are due Monday.  I am ready for them to get here.  I can't wait to see what they look like.  We are very excited around here.  We had to stop turning them yesterday.

Three of our hens have laid eggs today we are all so excited about that to.  Our hen Maybel, Goldie, and locks all laid eggs today.  I am waiting on the last 7 to lay their eggs.  I which ones are laying because I caught them this morning on the nests and I waited until they can out and when I went in after the came out i found eggs.  I can't wait until tomorrow.  I am cooking breakfast with fresh eggs, and our sausage from our pig we just slaughtered.  That will be great.

Incubation Day 24

Well it is day 24 and 1 chick is out and fluffy and the other hasn't come out yet but a friend of mine has been doing to for years and he said give it until Saturday before I try and open it up and seeing if it is alive or dead.  I may have lost one in lock down.

I have 2 duck eggs due to hatch on Monday the 14th of November.  I though I lost one duck but I think it just moved on me because now the egg is dark again so we will see.  I will have to give them until the 19th before I can open them up.  I think they will hatch close to Monday.  I can't wait until Monday, I want to see the ducks really bad.

The chick which I named Julia is doing well.

Incubation Day 23

Well today is a great day for us.  We got our first egg today which was exciting.  Plus out fuzzy butt came out of the egg today at about 12 noon.  I will post pictures soon I want him to finish drying off before I post them.  Plus on the wing sexing if the feathers at the end of the wing if the feathers are two different lengths it is a girl if they are the same length it is a male.  I have two different lengths so I should have a girl.

Incubation Day 22

Well day 22 in the incubation is here and we got a peep hole between 1 and 2 this afternoon.  It won't be long now and we will have baby chickens.  Pictures coming as soon as they are out.

Incubation Day 21

Well today is the big day and nothing yet.  I don't hear any peeps or chirps, and I don't see any movements.  I don't see anything moving in the shell so I am hoping that everything is okay.  I will post pictures as soon as they start to hatch.

Incubation Day 20

Well tomorrow is the big day Day 21.  they are suppose to hatch tomorrow, and god please let them hatch tomorrow, this waiting is physically starting to make me hurt.  I can't handle it any more.  Then I have another 7 days tomorrow to wait for the first two duck eggs to hatch.

Now the first incubation try so far has been successful because the 3 eggs I had to take out of the incubator were not fertile so they would not have hatched anyway.  All the eggs that were fertile have grown.

Right now I have a list of eggs that are suppose to hatch.

Joey the chicken egg tomorrow
Bay Bay chicken egg tomorrow

Molly duck egg due the 14th
Baby the duck egg due the 14th

Emma the duck egg due the 23rd
Joey the duck egg due the 23rd

We have 7 more eggs but I won't really know if they are fertile until probably tomorrow.  I am pretty sure that one is but not the rest.  I have at least 5 baby ducks the fifth duck is due the 30th and hasn't been named yet.  If the are not the sex for there name I will have to rename them.

I hope I have pictures to post tomorrow, or pictures of something to post tomorrow even if it is just a peep hole in the egg.

Our Lovely Ladies and a dude

 of our hens and a dude.  Mary our other black Australorp isn't in this picture

Incubation Day 19

Well I put a golf ball in one of the nest boxes that looks like it is being used more then the rest.  Someone said to try it might trick them in to laying an egg.  At this point I am willing to try anything because they are six months old and I want eggs.  We have a variety of hens and a rooster and i am wanting to incubate some of my eggs so I can see what I get.  Plus the lady that is giving me the duck eggs to incubate is trading me the duck eggs for some of my chicken eggs, well I have to hatch the chicken eggs out first she wants some of my babies.  We are doing a trade off.  I have 2 days left.  I am so excited I have been checking my eggs ever few hours and nothing is happening yet and I am so scared that something might happen to my little babies.  I will feel better once they have hatched and are dry and eating and drinking.  Pictures coming of there birth and there first few hours.

Incubation Day 18

Well today is the day that I stop turning the chicken eggs, or rather that was the only thing I really read that was the same in the incubation of chicken and duck eggs is that you stop turning them 3 days before they hatch, and you raise the humidity.  I can't wait to see them.  I already have the brood box set up with a lamp, food dish I just have to put food in it, and a water dish i just have to put water in it.  I will be posting pictures of my other incubator that is bigger then the first one.

Incubation Day 16

Okay well just an update and some pictures.  We figured out how to candle a dark brown egg.  Those little LED flash lights you get at the auto parts store for a couple dollars, take that and make sure it has new batteries in it because it has to be as bright as you can get it, and a paper towel or toilet paper ring from the middle, that card board tube.  You will need a room that is completely black or a big think blanket over yard head.  Put the flashy light at one end of the tube and the egg at the other end on its side and it will let you see what is in the egg.  Mind you the veins may be a little hard to see when they first start since the egg is brown.  I am not sure what to look for first since my eggs are suppose to hatch in about 5 days and all I can see is a couple veins and some movement and a big dark spot where the chick is.  Yes hold still and you will see them move sometimes.

This is a chicken egg.  Yes there is a chicken in there but the shell is a real dark brown but it look kind of like the other one this is the half of the shell that he hasn't filled up yet you can see some of the veins.

This is the duck egg that we put in there last Wednesday and is due the 23rd.

This is the duck egg due the 14th.

This is the duck egg due the 23rd.

This is the chicken egg and you can see where is has filled the other side of the egg up.

The duck egg due the 14th.

8 30 p.m.

Well the day is over, time for bed and maybe I will be able to hear a peeping in the morning from the little chicken eggs.  Wouldn't it be nice to hear that.  Only 5 days left, I can see them moving so I should be able to hear them soon.  I am now very excited for the chicken eggs to hatch out since now I can actually see inside the egg.  I wish I would have figured that out sooner.  I don't think we are going to do anymore chicken eggs until mine start to lay eggs.  The lady I get the duck eggs from and the chicken eggs want some meat chickens so we will probably stop with her eggs until my lay.  I think I am going to get 4 duck eggs every week once we figure out if the ones from the week before are growing or not.  Because now it is 2 chicken eggs due the 7th, 2 duck eggs due the 14th, 2 ducks due the 23rd, the eggs we put in today are due the week after that on the 30th.  We next week we will know if the eggs are going to hatch and we will get rid of the ones that aren't going to and probably put 4 more in there, that morning.  

Incubation Day 15

I am getting very antsy,  I have chicken eggs due in 5 days and duck eggs are due in 13 days.  Now I know I should be excited to see the chicken eggs hatch but they are brown eggs and there is nothing wrong with hatching brown eggs but I can't seem to candle them and see anything.  People keep telling me that you can candle them and see if there is anything in them but I guess I am just not doing it right.  Now the duck eggs the kids can see this actually growing in them and they can't wait to see the baby ducks.  My daughter who is 5 years old asked me today when she got home from school if she could crack the egg and get the baby duck out, I told her no hunny it will come out as soon as she is ready.  Got to love the mind of a child.  We have 2 ducks due on the 23rd to and the third egg I don't think it was fertile.