[Daisys Mum]

 
Sounds like you eggs are coming along nicely, I have just hatched 11 out of 18 runners bought off ebay. Didn't expect so many as the incubator humidity control kept playing up and we had a power cut but they are here and the cutest little ducks you ever saw.

[robbiegrant]

Hello Everyone.

Hey DM, glad to hear you
A6 is squeeking away... obviously wants out... lots of movement. We can see his beak now... He is breathing an vigourously  working away at the shell? We just candled the other 4 and they are all dead... A2 we suspected was dead a while ago but we didnt want to move it until totally sure.
A3 A4 and A5 have not been rocking about at all today. we investigated with the torch and they are totally still, they have died in there shell... we are gutted...

What could have gone wrong? shells to thick? I wonder if the incubator is achieving adequate humidity over night. both water troughs are full but we have now put an extra water vessel in the bator, just to make sure..

The B team are 3 days behind... three of them have no movement, the largest is rocking like crazy, the smallest is moving but not much ( hopefully just having a sleep.)

At what stage do you intervene? I always imagined they sort the hatching out for themselves.

Daisys Mum...
Glad to hear of your hatch, what kind of ducks did you buy???

[Daisys Mum]

 
Hi Robbie sorry to hear you have lost some of your ducks, mine are White Indian Runners, I kept the humidity at 58 up until day 24 then turned it up to 70. My incubator was not working very well so i kept putting wet sponges in to keep the humidity up.
I had 2 non fertile eggs and 5 which died in the shell.

[robbiegrant]

Hello Again.
Who did you buy from?
Robbie

[northfifeduckling]

that's a shame, robbie  . So  incubators are not foolproof either...

[robbiegrant]

Hi Guys.
Lucky Ducky is jumping about in the brooder now( All alone tho  ) . He/She/It fed and drank within an hour or so of getting out the shell and is vocal and vigorous. 

We think the others dried too much ( humidity )or maybe slightly too higher temperature. ( dont know if we can trust our hygrometer/thermometer anymore )  We removed another three still eggs this morning. So there is only 2 living eggs left from the B team. They are on day 26days and 12 hours. We are really hoping for safe hatching, it is heart breaking to see seemingly healthy eggs die before the babies hatch and Lucky Ducky will need a pal.

Hi NFD,  incubators are not foolproof either. I suppose we are dealing with nature... theres something to be said for letting a broody mother hen/duck doing the job i think.

Last night, after we remove Lucky to the brooder I gave the incubator a wipe down, changed and topped up both water reservoirs and added two wet sponges into the unit.

[northfifeduckling]

Hi NFD,  incubators are not foolproof either. I suppose we are dealing with nature... theres something to be said for letting a broody mother hen/duck doing the job i think.

to the same efffect here - out of 4 eggs she hatched 1 - sadly she gave up although I heard the other one trying to get out. I now wish I had intervened but it is a hard decision to make. Maybe it would have been a boy  The only other time we had a broody duck she hatched 5 but the weather was so bad and we literally did not know that nature needed help (our 1st year!) if you want to have and keep your ducklings - then 2 died of the cold and 2 others were taken by a hawk. I was actually thinking to get one Muscovy duck as they are supposedly the best incubators one can have ....
I hope there are still a few sisters in store for Lucky! 

[robbiegrant]

Hello again.
Sorry to hear of your hatch failings. Expeciall to a hawk  Its a sair fecht

IMHO. In an ideal world, all things being equal an incubator may still be more reliable than a broody duck. It doesnt seem to matter which expert you ask, everyone seems to have a different formula and sometimes their information even conflicts! At the end of the day, everyone is probably correct as their formula works for them. So....Apart from avoiding the pitfalls and eliminating error all you can really do is work out what works in a given situation and stick to it.

Anyway.... COME ON THE B TEAM 

We have B3 and B6 rocking now!  At tea time, whilst i was feeding and watering Lucky I heard the tinyest peep from the incubator and then discovered the smallest eggs of clutch B ( B3 ) has externally pipped with a wee bump on the egg.  so....

Hopefully Lucky will get lucky. The B team is from completely different stock

We are not beaten yet... Lera and I have ordered another clutch of eggs, this time white crested IR's...again, different stock ) ( The C team)  Our flock should have a good degree of genetic variation which will be great for breeding and some of them will have silly hats ( crests too boot ! )

We intend to learn from our failures and move forward in establishing our flock. I don't trust the digital hygrometer at all and plan to buy two calibrated clinical ( mercury in glass thermometers ) mount them together set up as wet bulb/dry bulb. No batteries to fail! less to go wrong( ) I hope!


anyway tattie bye for now.

Robbie

[northfifeduckling]

Robbie, try to just spray them with lukewarm water once or twice a day over the last 2 weeks - that's what we did to the successful hatches - just in case mum would not have enough baths. It seems to have done the trick! 

[robbiegrant]

Hello Again.
Yes we followed the spray regime.  We have a professionally calibrated incubator thermometer and a mason hygrometer coming in next day or so, no more fumbling with half a dozen readings from half a dozen devices. None of our current units agree and there is about 1.5C degrees between the extreme disagreements!. ( These cheeper ( eggscuse the pun  ) digital thermo/hygro units are great for quick/easy reference but only OK if  you have a known calibrated device to reference them with.

I was up late watching duck TV.
"Lucky" is going from strength to strength. After starting him on warm water/glucose solution we gave warm milk with some yolk mixed through, them mashed up boiled egg. today he moved onto Dvorak ( A russian style cottage cheese, that the russians feed their ducklings ) and duckling starter crumb. He drank and ate immediately!

The tiniest egg from the B team hatched in the early hours.    It was knackered ( unlike Lucky who got up on his feet, eyes wide and stumbled about 15 mins after getting away from him egg. )

The new arrival hasn't drank anything, Im a bit concerned about dehydration.

Egg B6 ( the largest of them all! ) is still rocking and knocking but so sign of an ex pip yet.

Oh well. back to duck TV

Robbie

[northfifeduckling]

I can recommend porridge - grows beautiful ducks (2 girls  just pretending it makes a difference there). 
you might be right calling Lucky a "he" ....I hope nr 2 and 3 are pulling through alright!

[robbiegrant]

  NFD Porridge.... good ok... thanks...
Oh........and thanks for the support  Appreciated!
I just managed to get a few drops of warm glucose/water into her/him and then immediately started preening her/himself, in a drunken manner 

Yes it would be fandabby if lucky ( pure bred white ) was a boy and the others girls .B3, no name as yet, has a black bill. If he is a Drake we would rename him "Vasily" and he would be our Alpha drake of the flock. I wouldn't know where to start about sexing them, just wait and see.   

Be well

Robbie

[northfifeduckling]

oh, sexing is another cuppa altogether 
I changed my mind countless times on the last one  - to get back to the initial diagnosis from the method that is supposedly 50 % right  : If you pick up a duckling and hold it against your ear, listen hard to the sound it makes - if it is crystal clear - girl - the ever so slightest roughness - boy. Worked for me  - eventually 

[robbiegrant]

What are you listening for?   
I mean how, ...errrr...ummmm
Really?
.........................................................

So ewe know how to sex duckings by listening "through" or "into" them?! ( i just went back and checked what ewe typed )
Crystal Clear?.... Slight roughness?
Lera's got a better ears than I, you should have seen her face when I told her your suggestion!
 

B3 is slowly getting a couple of drops of warm milk with egg yolk mixed in every so often. She is Standing, Preening and peeping away between naps. Not so worried about dehydration now. Water is in her/it/his brooder. They are separated because lucky/vasily started going mental and pecking..... She/he/It wont drink on its own but is taking the nutrient solution with a pipette then I'm stroking  :&>ys throat with my pinky to make  y swallow.

In comparison - Lucky/(Vasily) was crashing about the incubator in 15 minutes and eating and drinking almost as fast!

I think he/she/it will be fine. he/she/it is only 2 grams lighter than Lucky/etc....

Oh yeah on the subject of porridge, Leras Granny used to make porridge out of millet for her young ducks. 

Take it easy over that thar hill 

 

[northfifeduckling]

What are you listening for?   
I mean how, ...errrr...ummmm
Really?
.........................................................

So ewe know how to sex duckings by listening "through" or "into" them?! ( i just went back and checked what ewe typed )
Crystal Clear?.... Slight roughness?
Lera's got a better ears than I, you should have seen her face when I told her your suggestion!
 

 

  - should maybe have explained it better - you try to listen to the voice characteristics when they peep into your ear 
good luck with that - it worked for us - but as some folks said it's a bit 50/50