first day for first two to break out!

unbelievable to me.....our eggs are hatching!!!!

we had two "break out" last night & i just moved them to a brooder this morning
there is chirping from other eggs which is just so unreal.....almost cartoon like :-)

second one (first couple of pictures are action shots)

this morning......the little blonde has a big smile :-)

#3 just hatched :-)

isn't it a-mazing?!

big congrats, those duckies are adorable!

tf

They're so sweet! Ducks are on my list for next year!

MollyD

thanks!


i think i've bonded!!!
number 3 is still encouraging others to break free.....so hard to leave him/her in the incubator.....patience, patience

When birds of any kind hatch those out of the egg call to the ones in the eggs. Sort of like they're saying "you have got to see what's out here!" . I think it helps the ones in the eggs try a little harder to hatch out.

MollyD

i'll have to go chat with the little one while being patient :)

the first two are so sweet....they look like they have a lot of the ancona in them, although i think mama is a rouen
the third one has a greyish sheen, so i think the blue swedish boys did some courting.....

what is an ancona duck?

i hope i remembered the name right
a little black and white english duck that is splotched....they pretty much retain the spotted pattern when they are adults....really cute and they don't really fly....more like elongated hops :-)

Ducks that don't fly would be the kind I'd want to get! Much easier to keep track of them.

MollyD

Good work, larlienda! They are soooo cute and innocent looking.

My German Shepherd Stella just went out with the chickens for the first time--and behaved herself! Oh she was interested, but other than following them around for a few minutes, she was very good. So now I am thinking Indian Runners for the Border Collie. Two questions: Looking at your adorable babies, larlienda, how hard was it to incubate them? I am thinking that maybe a broody chicken could handle some duck eggs--but are they a good match? Could a broody silkie handle more than one?

And does anyone know of another breed of good, easily hatched duck that will let an obnoxious Border Collie boss them around without flying away? I look at larlienda and other's ducks and want one so bad...but I really can only justify them for the Border Collie. Everyone uses Indian Runners with herding dogs--but there are so many lovely breeds and I would prefer to use one of them.

#3.....this one is almost a silvery color

#4.....looks like a mask with the eyes....

catscan....it wasn't hard....these were our test batch as i bought an incubator to try and hatch guinea eggs.....naturally the guinea eggs showed up before these were done, so i had to get a second incubator

we just picked up some eggs from one of our ducks' nests and two goose eggs that my daughter took from our toulose goose (luckily she has 2 or 3 eggs that should be hatching any day....she hasn't moved from her nest & her beau is a nervous new daddy who has been watching out for our ducklings and goslings we received a couple of weeks ago....)

i don't know if we had good luck because we had the eggs or what, but we didn't have any problems as of yet....two goose eggs & two duck eggs left for the next couple of days, so we'll see

i'm really glad i saw advice somewhere to put some cheesecloth under the eggs prior to stopping turning them.....that has kept things less messier

our cayuga ducks don't fly much at all and neither do the blue swiss ducks we have
we just got two runners, two magpies and four snowy mallards, so we'll see how are luck holds on them

I've read that it is a good idea for chickens too--:0)

I'll have to remember that when the time comes ^_^

MollyD

#5 duckling arrived during the night....looks to be dry.....will be patient and see if the little one can help coax out the last duckling and the two goslings who are trying to get out :-)

So three to go larlienda? That is exciting!!!

MollyD

we just had a little goose :-)


looks like mama & papa...toulose (sp) geese :-)

How long did the goose egg take to hatch (total days)? I was thinking that next year when my soon to be here pair start laying I might snag an a few of their eggs to hatch out myself! Mine would be backup to the ones they did or vice versa. That's called counting your hatchings before their parents have even hatched!!! LOL


MollyD

thinkiing ducks vary but geese are 28 days...

congrats, crossing fingers for you!

Thanks tf! Yes indeed! Fingers crossed for those last babies!!! Two to go right?

MollyD

two to go :-)

Yeah!!! ♫♫♫Let me know when I can start singing Happy Birthday to them ^_^ LOL

MollyD

Molly found the ALT characters...LOL

LOL Yeah! Now if I could only remember more of them! ^_^

MollyD

Molly, didn't you put that page in your favorites? That's where I keep it for quick reference...LOL

☼♥^_^♥☼

I use bookmarks for the pages I want to keep. Those I can organize into folders by topic which makes it easier to find them :-() Of course it helps if I remember I put them there in the first place!

MollyD

Well, I put that one in my favorites because I am referring to it frequently.

GG