My Edible Garden

I've been gardening for most of my life and have been a devoted fan of organic gardening the whole time. It just makes so much more sense to work in harmony with Mother Nature than to fight her. Besides which it is better for the planet and better for our bodies. Here you can see what I'm planting and harvesting, with gardening hints and resources thrown in for good measure.

Saturday, February 15, 2014

Ducklings on the Way

Muscovy duck at 19 days incubation

I candled some of the eggs in the incubator last night. There are 6 Muscovy eggs left from Karen's flock. Here you can see a little head and bill. They are at 19 days, so just about half way.

So far the 6 remaining eggs all look pretty good so my fingers are crossed they all make it.

When you set eggs to incubate not every single egg will always be fertile. Then there always seem to be some that we call early quitters. They start to develop but for some reason they quit. Sometimes I think it can be a genetic defect in the egg or sometimes it is something environmental or even the nutrition of the parents. (my reading indicates that vitamin E is especially important for hatch ability)

I also checked my purebred Ameraucana eggs, there are 8 of those left and they are due on Monday so hoping we'll have some cute babies real soon. 

2 comments:

  1. Mary, I don't think there's anything on a homestead that's 100%. Even garden seeds don't germinate 100% as I am finding out this Spring. I guess that's why plants put out so many seeds. As homesteaders we can improve the odds of nature a little but nature is still nature. Good luck with your egg hatching.

    Have a great duck egg hatching day.

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  2. So what is the birth announcement???? Nancy

    ReplyDelete