New to Indian Runner Ducks

Hi,
I used a clinical thermometer and my partner made a little wooden stand/bracket for it so it was about an inch off the bottom of the incubator,in other words approx the middle of the egg which is where the temp needs to be at 37.5c. Once the eggs go in you will get a drop in the incubator temp as it warms up cold eggs(obviously don't alter the settings when this happens as it will stabilise) If your digital thermometer has a sticky pad on it then fix it at the height to be in the middle of the egg. I'd wait on putting in the eggs until you're happy with the temp and if necessary get hold of another thermometer to be sure. Some slight variation of temp is ok but 39.1 would be too high
 
Thanks for the reply.

I was a bit nervous of my temperature before I put the eggs in.
I bought a second thermometer and after a bit of tweaking seem to have it running at a steady 37.4 degrees.
It has run a little higher at one point and a little lower lower when I turn the eggs but on the whole its fairly steady.

The humidity is quite difficult to get constant. When put even a little water in the tray it zooms up to 75% then when it drops to 50% I top it back up.

I'm turning the eggs religiously every 8 hours.

I'm looking forward to Thursday (7th day) when I can candle them and see what's happening.

Is there anything I'm missing? Should I be misting them or not?
 
I didn't mist. The humidity is very difficult to keep at a constant as the humidity outside the incubator will vary, try not to fret too much about it- some folk run their's dry until the last few days anyway.
The temperature is spot on-some slight variation would be experianced with a broody as well.
Good luck for Thursday-seeing a little black blob and veins developing will set your heart racing!
I numbered my eggs with a light pencil and had a chart so I could keep a record of how each one was developing.
 
NEWTODUCKS said:
Good luck for Thursday-seeing a little black blob and veins developing will set your heart racing!
Click to expand...
Haha I can't wait!

I just hope there's some signs of life.

If there isn't, then it's back to the drawing board, I will not be defeated!

I've started a blog if anyone wants to have a nosey :)

http://indianrunnerducks.tumblr.com/
 
great cant wait to read how it goes , parents look beautiful x
 
Hi Guys, quick update for you.

It's now day 20 so not long to go!

As you know if you've been following this thread I bought a dozen eggs from 2 different ebay sellers, they were received a day apart and given time to set before all going in the incubator together. They have been treat exactly the same.

Unfortunately nothing has happened in 1 set of eggs, but in the other 6 I'm pretty sure we have 6 ducklings!

I took the 6 out and cracked them to see what was in them and they just had yolks in them, what does this mean, could they have died in transit or could they have been infertile?
 
Ok so the 6 eggs have had their final turn, I've cut out small rings of toilet roll placed them with the narrow end slightly tilted down, I've also got the humidity right up to 85%.

Hatch day is Thursday, we can't wait!

PS: If any of what I've done isn't right or there's something I've missed please tell me immediately!
 
Hi,
The anticipation really hots up now! I didn't use any toilet roll rings, couldn't that inhibit the movement of the egg? I personally wouldn't use those but maybe others know better.
Good luck!
 
The only reason I've put them on the rings is to stop them rolling around.

They are upstairs in my office on a filing cabinet, it's the only room in the house that has a consistent temperature, I was under the impression that it was imperative that they didn't move for the last 2 days?

This is what they look like:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y58/redface/d9e7f965-947d-47aa-909d-0c2a12e9b60e_zpsf86431ce.jpg

If I don't have something to stabilize them they will roll around.
 
Hi,
Is it the fact that you have to open the cabinet that will cause them to roll around? They won't move too much otherwise as the duckling will have got into position which will mean it's heavier on one side. Rolling a bit as they hatch is normal and I would have thought by putting these rings at the bottom would prevent that. As the first hatches and moves about inside the incubator it will knock the others over as they can be active quite quickly. I'm no expert but personally I wouldn't use the rings
Which colour is it that's hatching? I recall you had two different sets.
 
Problem solved, I've taken them off the toilet roll rings and I've moved all of the stuff out of the cabinet so I don't disturb them!

There's only six eggs left in there as the first six were infertile, I removed them a week a so a go and they just had yolks in them :(

These definitely have something going on though as I've been candling them and I can see veins!
 
Oh my goodness, two have just cracked their shells, hatch day isn't until tomorrow!

What the hell!
 
Babies of all types come in their own time-yours are a bit early but no worries-hope your children are there to see it. You've done something right if they're hatching together-mine were spread over a couple of days. Keep us posted!!
 
Congrats! I had three who looked like this at this stage, 2 were white and one was apricot trout. How are the others progressing?
 
A brown one has just hatched, I managed to film it on my DSLR, currently uploading the video to my blog.

There's some more images of number 1 as well!

The rest are all very close I think.
 
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