Here's the start of our latest project -- four dozen fertilized duck eggs.
J and I set up the incubator...
...while Zoo Boy counted to make sure all 48 eggs are there. (We actually discovered one had a small crack in it, so we are setting 47 eggs.)
Once the incubator got up to temperature (99.5 deg F for setting duck eggs), we loaded it up with the eggs.
And now three times a day we're turning them to make sure they are warmed on all sides and able to develop properly. The kids do the turning before breakfast and when getting home from our afternoon adventures, I do the last turn for the night before going to bed. We also check frequently to make sure the temperature is just right, adjusting up or down slightly as needed, and make sure that the water reservoir in the incubator is at the right level, so that the humidity is correct.Assuming all goes well, we'll be hatching ducklings in mid-May!
5 comments:
How do you freeze them? What does that entail? We have chickens and turkeys laying right now but only 1 incubator lol...arh009@bravemail.uncp.edu
how neat.. I would love to see them hatch. What a treat.
Ashley -- I'm not sure what you mean about freezing? I think you can incubate chickesn and turkeys at the same time (I think the temperature and humidity requirements are the same) -- it's waterfowl and chickens/turkeys that need to be incuabated seperately (I THINK). I'm pretty sure you could do ducks and geese together also. Eggs need to be no more than 10 days old in order to set them, and they need to be stored between 50 and 60 degrees.
Hope that's helpful!
Very Cool! We're excited to read the updates!
haha I can't read! Dozen and four looked like frozen :) We have 48 chicken eggs and I don't know how many turkey eggs going in the incubator tonight! Goodluck!
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