Well.
..BABIES....DUCK babies...
About a month ago, we decided to try our hands at making an egg incubator...we had an old copper box with a light bulb and cord already wired into it...in fact...it was used as our first refrigerator...that is a different story, though! LOL!
We cut a hole in the top for a viewing panel and screwed a piece of old plexiglas to the lid so we could see what was going on in there...next we insulated with sheet board insulation and installed a hot water thermostat on the side...
drilled airholes... installed wire mesh above the light...added water bowls for humidity and put in a 40 watt lightbulb...WALAH...incubator...
Well...it takes 21 days for chickens to hatch and 28 days for duck eggs to hatch.....for the last month, I have faithfully been monitoring my eggs...turning them three times a day and really looking after them...I even read up on candling...which is holding the egg up to a light and actually
looking inside the egg...
There were definately baby ducks in there...you could see their heart beating and the outlines of their little beaks!
well...my 28 days came and went...nothing was happening...this is a critical time...I was thinking that all of them had died...and just as I was about to throw out these eggs...thinking it was a total failure...my Honey begged for two more days... til Thursday Baby Doll...just wait til Thursday!...and then.this happened today...
The eggs were pipping! Those lil babies were peeping and breaking thru the shells!
I peeped at them...and they peeped back at me!
I have six eggs in there...and only two are viable...but those little duckies are breaking out!
My little Pekin Hen is sitting on a clutch too...I wasn't sure if she was going to be a good Mama or not...but that little girl is being the best broody Mama EVER!
And the Drake? He puts anything that gets near her on the run! He is quite obnoxious...he went from friendly little duck to flying at you and chasing you...and don't even bother talking to her...
If all this works out? I will have hatched two duckies and she will hav 13! Chickens are next...we need a crop of fifty for next years meat supply...
I have to say...this was an amazing experience...the first one hatched out without me seeing...I looked in the incubator and there he was...laying on his back looking at me...I thought he was dead at first and then he just started rolling around all over the place...
