wriggling eggs!

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duckiedee

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Hi I have 2 call duck eggs in my incubator and they have just over a week to go before they hatch. Upon watching the eggs after a turn in the incubator i observed that the eggs are wriggling and rocking quite a bit!!.

Does this mean they may hatch early? prob a silly question but not having hatched duck eggs before i am not sure what to look out for. I have candled them today and the eggs are quite dark but you can see quite a bit of movement. The air sac has increased a little but not sure it's enough for them to hatch yet. so is it normal to see the eggs actually moving and wriggling about at 20 days of inubation?

Thanks for any help and advice in advance :D
 
Hi,
I haven't a vast amount of experience having only hatched out one set of ducklings last year-these were runner ducks. I don't recall mine moving their eggs until the last couple of days.They were cheeping at me as well. My instinct would be that they may be getting ready to hatch early and would wonder if you should stop turning the eggs as they "may"be getting orientated to hatch.
Others on here may be better able to advise you.
Jo
 
Says can be 26 days for Call Ducks on the club website. The movement you describe sounds like hatching in 3 days or so. Are you sure of your dates Duckiedee -it is a Leap Year ? Presume you have stopped turning the eggs ?
 
thanks Jo......i was thinking similar thoughts!

But it's about a week too early as everything i have read about them says it takes 28 days!. I took them fresh from the nest on the same day they were laid and so definitely know that I haven't made a mistake on dates. Think i might just keep an eye on them for the next couple of days and will candle them every day to be on the safe side.

If anyone knows if call ducks take a shorter amount of time to hatch can they please let me know. I am a complete novice and any help will be gratefully recieved :)
 
Hi Chris

No I defo haven't got my dates wrong....i took them from the nest on the day they were laid and they went straight into my automatic incubator!

I set it for 28 days and now i have 8 days left. it's only been today that i noticed they were moving quite a bit.
 
OK Duckiedee. They were still warm when they went in so no warming of the core to do and they can be as early as 26 days according to the club and that will be from stone cold. So 25 days in your case I would say. So you possibly only have 5 days left -exciting ! Let us know what happens but I'd stop turning on Tuesday to be safe and change the settings as necessary.
 
ok thanks Chris!.

yes it is exciting, to be honest i am a little nervous as well, I feel so protective of my eggs and hoping that nothing goes wrong. But I am aware that call ducks can be a little difficult to hatch so am trying my best to get everything right so they stand the best chance! :D

I candled them this morning again but the air sac is still relatively small and they havent broken into it yet.....will it still be ok to stop turning etc on tuesday if nothing changes inside the egg?
 
Well they will start to manouvre to get out on Tuesday if my calculations are correct and still moving them would be bad news as they will use all their energy up continually repositioning. If they are moving themselves they don't need turning, they won't get stuck to the side of the shell now.
 
ok i will turn the auto turning off tomorrow..see what happens. I will keep you posted. Thanks Chris :D
 
if there is no sign of pipping do i stop the turning and up the humidity anyway? and then hope they will start?
 
Yes definitely. If the humidity isn't up and the temp down they won't be able to pip. The shell won't break and they will stick to the membrane. Their exertion raises the temperature which is why it needs reducing slightly.
 
duckiedee said:
if there is no sign of pipping do i stop the turning and up the humidity anyway? and then hope they will start?
Click to expand...

You should assume that hatching will take place on the 28th day, as long as the temp has been correct and stable. If the temp is high this will lead to them developing early, maybe a day or two and would lead to highly active embryos, and noisy ducklings when they hatch.

So, don't stop turning, they have a week to go? Keep the humidity constant it does not need increasing until they externally pip, and it might be a good idea to stop candling now. When the break through the internal membrane they air sac should take up roughly a third of the shell, and you will probably hear some cheeping at this point as the lungs start working independently.

Good luck with your hatch, and do not once they start hatching..open the incubator no matter how tempting! :D
 
hi foxy.

am a bit confused now lol. call ducks take 26 days to incubate? or should i wait for the 28 days?

I candled them today and the air sac is still quite shallow in one of the eggs. The eggs are moving about quite a lot and the incubator is saying there is 7 days to go......but i set it for 28 days not 26. so when do i increase the humidity???....the insruction manual says it stops turning 2 days before hatch and then i have to fill the 2 pots with water to increase the humidity.(it's a Brinsea mini advance). should i stop it turning manually tomorrow?/


sorry for all the questions but i am a complete novice at this and also a little nervous. would be a shame to lose them due to my ignorance !!
thanks x
 
duckiedee said:
hi foxy.

am a bit confused now lol. call ducks take 26 days to incubate? or should i wait for the 28 days?

I candled them today and the air sac is still quite shallow in one of the eggs. The eggs are moving about quite a lot and the incubator is saying there is 7 days to go......but i set it for 28 days not 26. so when do i increase the humidity???....the insruction manual says it stops turning 2 days before hatch and then i have to fill the 2 pots with water to increase the humidity.(it's a Brinsea mini advance). should i stop it turning manually tomorrow?/


sorry for all the questions but i am a complete novice at this and also a little nervous. would be a shame to lose them due to my ignorance !!
thanks x
Click to expand...

Sorry yes, call ducks take a day less on average than average sized ducks! :D When I hatch mine, I stopped turning about 2 days before and raise humidity when I see they have pipped through the shell. That would mean stop turning on day 25. The turning isn't so critical, but the humidity is specially with ducks.
 
ok thanks

so i will wait until weds to stop turning...wait for the pipping and then raise the humidity. I never realised there was so much involved lol!
 
duckiedee said:
ok thanks

so i will wait until weds to stop turning...wait for the pipping and then raise the humidity. I never realised there was so much involved lol!
Click to expand...

Don't worry! We all remember the anxiety with our first hatch! :D After a while you can get a little blaise, I remember a couple of years I forgot to switch the turner off and the poor things were trying to hatch out in all sorts of positions poor things! Needless to say it was a good hatch and they were fine! :roll:
 
ok stopped turning today and candled them for the last time. All i could see was a bigger air sac and a dark mass. there was a little movement but not much. I guess they are getting ready for the hatch! :D

I have turned the temp down to 37c and upped the humidity by filling both the water pots to the rim (as per incubator instructions).

All I have to do now is wait :-)07
 
how will i know that they are pipping and breaking into the air sac?....probably a silly question but without candling I don't know what to look out for!
 
duckiedee said:
how will i know that they are pipping and breaking into the air sac?....probably a silly question but without candling I don't know what to look out for!
Click to expand...

Sorry I increase when I see external pipping, so when I know the chicks or ducklings need the humidity to help break through.
 
oh ........should i just leave it now?.will they be ok with the extra humidity do you think?
 
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