The Homesteading Thread

Recently the drake was in quarantine because he had a small cut on his foot and was limping. He got to hang out on the grass for 3 days. He was pissed.





My incubator came in this week! This is a first for me. I'm tired of waiting for ducks to decide to be a mom. I can tell the production of my oldest hens is starting to wane a little, we need some fresh blood in the mix. It takes 28 days to incubate duck eggs so hopefully these hatch on a weekend in case I need a little backup.I really tried to pick eggs from the welsh harlequins. You can identify some eggs from the older birds due to their larger shape, irregular shape, and striations and patterns on the shell from internal anatomy and lay.

 

Definitely. He's an asshole anyway, and then I did this.

 

I'm a total novice but have been doing a little reading about all this. Turns out there's a thousand variables and various techniques out there.

Do you mean older eggs, or eggs from an older bird?

Older hens lays eggs with shells that are more porous which affects the rate at which moisture is lost within the egg. You can do some adjustments in your incubator to take that into account. Momma bird usually does better because they can sense and detect a lot about the egg and development that we cannot.

There is also a method of dry incubating that is supposed to replicate a broody hen's behavior and involves taking the eggs out to cool periodically, and with waterfowl, misting them. It is supposed to a method that results in a better hatch rate on average.

I was getting overwhelmed at all the info and factors and went with the official recommendation of temp and humidity on the metzer site for duck eggs. I bought a well reviewed incubator so it comes down to the eggs.

 

Here are some of the irregularities in my older duck's eggs. Culling of hens at a relatively young age is done in part because as the females age, the eggs get bigger. They are less uniform, which is bad commercially, and they are more likely to cause reproductive problems within the bird. Older birds can have eggs get stuck. Once I have new hens in the mix, I need to find out who is laying this biggest egg because they may be the first to be culled, if that's the direction I decide to go.

Spoiler: big images

Thinning of part of the shell. It's not a calcium problem.



Patterns from egg development and lay in the shells






Hard to see but there are often faint swirl patterns on the egg, it's a pigmentation thing I believe having to do with the size of the egg being pushed out. The smaller eggs don't show this.

 

Ah I see. Yes I'll have to take notes. I have some eggs that were collected over the last week or so, and I went ahead and put another 4 in there from this morning so I have super fresh ones too. The air sack will get smaller as an egg ages, and that air sac is a big part of the development in the egg so I can definitely see how those would need special treatment.

What is your past experience with poultry?

 

For a while I was trying to incubate duck eggs, specifically, Call Duck eggs and despite experience with other species such as pheasants and chickens, the hatch rate was dismal. And a lot of times I couldn't get the humidity levels just right at hatch time. Finally I gave up and let the hens do their job, with far better results.

Don't be too disappointed if your first hatch doesn't go well. Waterfowl can be a pain in the ass.

 

I've only had 1 duck go broody, and she did it during a heatwave last year so anything is better than that. I had 3 ducklings die at the end in the shells, and I think 1 hatched and the drake or another duck killed it while it was still wet.

I'm hoping a dozen hatch out of the 16. I'm hoping for 4-6 new hens. I'm eeeextra hopeful that we get a couple WHs. The drake barely mates them though and I haven't gotten serious about separation for breeding yet.

A lot of it comes down to the incubator, too,and I really think I got a solid one. Fingers are crossed.

 

I've been reading more about incubation of eggs and found this

https://letsraisechickens.weebly.co...anuals-understanding-and-controlling-humidity

It kind of explains the reasoning behind numbers. I've got my incubator set up but it'll be important to candle the eggs at certain days to note the air sac development and can adjust things based on the progress.

I added 2 more eggs that I feel sure are from the WHs on Sunday. There may be some stragglers when hatch time comes.

Chicken math is real...

 

Whew, y'all may have been onto something about not getting my hopes up.

So far out of 18 eggs, 4 show some development and one started but quit.

I see the drake aggressively targeting the black ducks but I believe he is often unsuccessful unless he mates in the pond. A lot of these eggs appear to not be fertile. The black ducks hide from him whenever they can.

 

I think I am going to just have to be more intentional with my flock's breeding. This will still be a great learning opportunity since I've never incubated before. I sure hope I get at least 1 Welsh harlequin female out of this. I may even try again this year depending on the outcome.