spaghettiduck
Hatching
- Apr 30, 2024
- 3
- 1
- 9
Hi! I figured I should start off with some context. I'm 16 years old and my neighbour has free roaming ducks, and sometimes they wander into our yard. One day, I found a nest with a ton of eggs in it. I didn't disturb it, because I figured if I touched it the mom wouldn't come back. We told the neighbours in hopes they'd let the mom raise them here, and they said if the ducklings hatched they would be ours.
Here is where this all started I guess. My neighbour set up a greenhouse along the fence, blocking the little gap that the ducks came in through. They haven't been in our yard since. I left the nest be for a bit, in hopes the mom would maybe fly over, but then my brother took them from the nest and put them in some warm water. I wanted to ask the neighbours if they had an incubator they could put them in, but I am not allowed to talk to them :/ After candling and seeing some were still alive, my mom let me borrow her heating pad, and I put the eggs in a small plastic critter cage with a rag and hay for what I hoped was insulation, I put it in a drawer leaving it a little open, then I put that on top of the heating pad on high. I put another damp rag on top of them and changed that everyday or just whenever I noticed it was dry, usually multiple times during the day.
I've never incubated anything before, so I feel pretty guilty because I believe I started off wrong. I kept the heating pad on high, which reached about 108, but once I checked the temperature I turned it down to medium and its been about 100 now, maybe a little over. I think I started noticing development, but I don't have a proper candling tool and I've just been using my phone flashlight on it's strongest setting, which still isn't very concentrated. It's been about 11 days since I started. Unfortunately I don't think I see any veins, just a bunch of spots. But about 2 days ago, when I candled one of the eggs, the light was barely shining through, and it wasn't nearly as 'orange' and glowy on the inside as the other ones still are. I haven't really noticed movement from any of them, but I have poor eyesight.
I just wanted to know from people who are more experienced than myself, I tried looking it up but I didn't find a really good answer, do you think the egg is bad, and going to explode? Or, what I hope, is it close to hatching? Do you think that I should just stop now? I don't want to be cruel by throwing them out, but would it be more cruel to continue what I'm doing? If they did hatch, I have already talked to my mom about properly setting them up so they can grow healthy, so they wouldn't just be sitting around the house. I'd really appreciate any thoughts and opinions, and I'm really sorry if this isn't the right place for this. Thank you
Here is where this all started I guess. My neighbour set up a greenhouse along the fence, blocking the little gap that the ducks came in through. They haven't been in our yard since. I left the nest be for a bit, in hopes the mom would maybe fly over, but then my brother took them from the nest and put them in some warm water. I wanted to ask the neighbours if they had an incubator they could put them in, but I am not allowed to talk to them :/ After candling and seeing some were still alive, my mom let me borrow her heating pad, and I put the eggs in a small plastic critter cage with a rag and hay for what I hoped was insulation, I put it in a drawer leaving it a little open, then I put that on top of the heating pad on high. I put another damp rag on top of them and changed that everyday or just whenever I noticed it was dry, usually multiple times during the day.
I've never incubated anything before, so I feel pretty guilty because I believe I started off wrong. I kept the heating pad on high, which reached about 108, but once I checked the temperature I turned it down to medium and its been about 100 now, maybe a little over. I think I started noticing development, but I don't have a proper candling tool and I've just been using my phone flashlight on it's strongest setting, which still isn't very concentrated. It's been about 11 days since I started. Unfortunately I don't think I see any veins, just a bunch of spots. But about 2 days ago, when I candled one of the eggs, the light was barely shining through, and it wasn't nearly as 'orange' and glowy on the inside as the other ones still are. I haven't really noticed movement from any of them, but I have poor eyesight.
I just wanted to know from people who are more experienced than myself, I tried looking it up but I didn't find a really good answer, do you think the egg is bad, and going to explode? Or, what I hope, is it close to hatching? Do you think that I should just stop now? I don't want to be cruel by throwing them out, but would it be more cruel to continue what I'm doing? If they did hatch, I have already talked to my mom about properly setting them up so they can grow healthy, so they wouldn't just be sitting around the house. I'd really appreciate any thoughts and opinions, and I'm really sorry if this isn't the right place for this. Thank you
thank you for letting me know, i appreciate the help a lot
