To get more color in our duck eggs, we're hatching a bunch of the green ones.
They've been growing for about two weeks now. We candled them at one week and this is what we saw:
Amazing! That they grow so quickly and that we can see it with just a little light through the shell.
The duck eggs are bigger than the chicken eggs, so they didn't fit in the egg turner that came with the incubator. G has been rotating them by hand.
Until my brother-in-law 3D printed us a slightly bigger egg turner.
It works great! although not all the eggs fit. If we cut out that triangle between the eggs and extend one side, we could fit six more in the turner. That can be prototype #2. For now, we turn those four by hand.
The ducks we have don't go broody, that is sit on their eggs. Over the years that trait has been bred out of their breed/genetics. My dad says he notices this with chickens; the chickens hatched and raised by hens are better at being chickens than the ones incubated. Interesting nature vs nurture observation.
We do have a chicken who's gone broody. She's up in the haymow and doesn't like to leave the clutch of eggs.
We're still collecting the eggs under her so she won't hatch any. I'm tempted to let her try, but I'm nervous about chicks hatching when it's cold. I wonder how long she'll stay broody. Maybe we'll let her sit on eggs later this month for some April chicks.
No comments:
Post a Comment