Battle with the bator

After letting the eggs sit out and reach room temperature it was time to go into the bator. Keep in mind I let the eggs rest over night to reach room temp and rest after their journey. I wasn't comfortable letting them sit next to the bator instead of in it but I had to make sure it'd be a safe transition. It took 24 hours to get the bator to the temp I desired and to hold that temp, 99.0 - 99.9.

So after rummaging for baby clothes it was into the bator! I didn't want to put them in while I wasn't home which all worked out in the end. I found a ton of affordable baby clothes and my bator temp didn't even out until after I got home anyways.

All 14 eggs went into the bator and are being held in the automatic egg turner. (I mentioned the automatic turner in a previous post so check there for a explanation).  I wanted to take a pic of all the eggs in there and the lid off but I didn't want too much heat to escape. Here is what it looks like:

So I put the lid back on and expected the bator to slowly reach temp. It took another 30 hours of adjusting and checking every 30mins!! At one point I was tempting to throw the darn thing out the window but thought otherwise since I didn't feel like sitting on the eggs myself. But after 30 hours of swearing the temp is holding at 99.3-99.5. Phew!

Now we look 28 days down the road and look for the action to start. It looks like June 22nd will be the start of all the fun! I do plan on candling the eggs at about 7 days, so next we're looking at next Friday for that. Candling in where you shine a flashlight or other light source into the egg and pay attention to signs of development. You want to remove any eggs that are not showing development or that seem to have stopped development. The last thing you want is an egg going bad and blowing up in your bator! Thanks for reading!

The eggs have arrived!!!!

The mail lady couldn't get here fast enough to deliver my duck eggs. Surprisingly she was gentle with the package. Normally our mail gets man handled quite a bit. Here is our much awaited package. I really loved all the written warnings on it :)

I opened the box carefully and let them get a little fresh air and let them reach room temp after their journey. I'm new to this and I wanted to take my time and get it right. I have 14, possible, lives depending on me. Here they are all snuggled into their packaging. You can't see in this picture but half of them are blue which is a signature of the Magpie breed. How cool is that?

 I couldn't help but candle a couple to see what was going on inside. It is way too early to see anything productive but it was fun none the less. You can see the yolk at the top. Ducks like to be wet and sloppy so many times their eggs aren't the cleanest. You just make sure there isn't too much dirt on them for safety sake.

Now onto making final adjustments on the heat and humidity in the incubator. Believe it or not this thing is styro-foam! I kind of felt ripped off for paying money for something that resembled a cheap cooler. haha. Take a look at it.

Duck eggs do need to be turned a few times a day. You want to do it in odd numbers like 3 times a day or 5 times a day. This way the ducklings don't sleep threw the night on the same side each night. This can cause disabilities in the developing duckling. They do sell an automatic egg turner that is set onto the floor of the incubator and is simply plugged in. I'll be using one of these my first time around. The egg turner I bought turns them every 4 hours. Some "hatchers" prefer to hand turn the eggs. I'll be paying close attention to the pro's and con's of the automatic turner and I'll decide if I'll be using it again or selling it. You must stop turning the eggs around day 26, right before they hatch. Obviously it's very important for people using the automatic turner so the ducklings aren't injured.

Not all eggs have the same incubating length. My Magpie eggs will need incubation for 28 days. The 28 days starts when the eggs are put into the incubator and does not start the day they are born. I'm glad I found that out or I'd be 1 week off on my hatch dates. So my eggs will be due to hatch on or around June 22nd.
Here is a list of birds and their incubation lengths:
Chicken- 21 days                                           Duck- 28 to 35 days
Quail- 23 days                                                Parakeet- 18 days
Cortunix- 17 to 18 days                                  Parrots- 28 days
Pheasant- 23 days                                           Dove- 14 days
Chukar- 23 days                                             Mynah- 14 days
Turkey- 28 days                                              Finch- 14 days
Swan- 30 to 37 days                                       Button Quail- 16 days
Goose- 28 to 30 days                                     Valley Quail- 21 to 22 days

There's your hatching lesson for the day :) Thanks everyone for taking the time to read my blog. Feel free to leave comments or questions for me in the space below. Thanks!

How it all begins....

Welcome to my blog! Here is where you'll be able to follow along as we hatch and raise a clutch of Magpie duck eggs.
Magpie ducks are similar in stature to Runner ducks. They have more personality and are quieter than your typical Call ducks usually weighing 4-5lbs full grown. Their coloring is seen on their crowns and backs.  Typical colors are Black, Blue and Silver. There is also a Chocolate Magpie which is extremely rare. They have color patterns that are easily spotted in a flock. They are great layers with yearly counts of 200-300 eggs. They're currently on the "critical" list of the American Livestock Breeds Conservatory.
For a more in depth look at the Magpie duck follow this link: http://albc-usa.org/cpl/waterfowl/magpie.html.

After looking at Magpie ducklings for a while I decided I'd prefer to hatch out my own. So I started looking up Magpie breeders that would sell me some fertilized eggs. The search wasn't going very well so I put that idea on the back burner.
Out of the blue I got an email from a Magpie breeder, Francie Beckett. She had extra fertilized Magpie eggs and was curious if I'd be interested in hatching them out. Umm, YEAH!! So I scrambled quick and set up area for the incubator next to my chick brooder.

I've been tracking the eggs transit and they are scheduled to arrive tomorrow May 24th 2012. I've got my fingers crossed that for once USPS has decided to handle my package with care. Francie just emailed me and let me know that there are 14 fertilized eggs in the package!! We're sure to have a few hatch :)

I've created this blog to share this priceless experience with everybody. Hatching & raising a clutch of duck eggs has always been a dream of mine and I'm VERY excited to be given the opportunity. A huge thank you goes out to Francie Beckett of Ohio for giving me this opportunity!

Above are pics of Magpies Francie Beckett has raised and are possibly related to the ducklings we will be hatching out here. I'm soooo excited and I hope you find this blog fun and informational. Please feel free to leave me comments or questions at the bottom of each blog post.