Homemade incubator+6 Wood Duck eggs=Wood Duck chicks

[bbhaag]

I thought some of you guys might enjoy seeing this. A few weeks back we had a Wood duck lay her eggs in a very high traffic area of my business. There was constant forklift activity, people, and loud noises from machinery about 8 foot from her nest. After about 3 days she finally abandoned her nest from all the activity and I decided to step in and rescue the eggs before they became fox/raccoon food.
I snapped some pics and thought I would share them with everyone here at Anandtech.

The first pic is the homemade incubator I made out of a cardboard box. I cut a hole in the top for a heat source and put a window in front so the kids could see in.


Here's a pic of the top of the incubator. It shows the temp controller we used to keep the eggs at a constant 99.6* F.


This next pic shows one of the eggs hatching. It's kind of hard to see but if you look at the lower right egg you will notice the chick starting to break out.


Here's two of the chicks after they have hatched. They're around 18 hours old in this picture. You can see that both of them fit comfortably in my wifes hand.


It's pretty exciting to finally see them successfully hatch. I wasn't really sure if my incubator would work.

 

[K1052]

That's pretty awesome.

 

[Markbnj]

Neat! Do you have a pond for them?

 

[Howard]

What's the heat source and what kind of temperature sensor did you use?

 

[Phoenix86]

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

Are you going to eat them someday?

 

[bbhaag]

Neat! Do you have a pond for them?

Not yet. We are talking with the local DNR office about suitable locations for release. In the next 24 hours we will introduce them to water so they can start learning how to swim.

What's the heat source and what kind of temperature sensor did you use?

Of all things the heat source is a 60w incandescent light bulb. I tried a 100w and it was to much then I tried a 45 and it was to little so I settled on a 60.
The temp controller is one I use at work. I use it in February to keep my plug trays warm.

 

[AMD64Blondie]

Awwww....so cute.

 

[postmortemIA]

i have ducklings near my backyard during spring ... they learn how to swim in pairs with their folks .... good luck

 

[OutHouse]

love ducks, wish i had the property to have a pond and i would have me some ducks oh and a cranky old goose.

 

[BladeVenom]

Mmm... duck. Now to fatten them up.

 

[Markbnj]

Mmm... duck. Now to fatten them up.

Lol, that too. Peking duck!

 

[Ichinisan]

Dawww. Wub dux.

I raised a couple of mallards from newly-hatched ducklings I bought from a feed store. They imprinted immediately and followed me and my brother everywhere. They would clamber into my lap every time I was near.

Really cool. Then a neighborhood dog killed them

 

[DigDog]

to cuddle or fatten?

imho both choices have their upsides. (you can't have both, though)

 

[Ancalagon44]

Pity there were no ducks nearby for them to imprint on. I mean, will they ever be able to live in the wild?

 

[disappoint]

How much wood would a wood duck duck from if a wood duck could duck from wood being thrown at it?

 

[brainhulk]

I love Chinese food

 

[bbhaag]

Pity there were no ducks nearby for them to imprint on. I mean, will they ever be able to live in the wild?

Most wood ducks have a very strong natural instinct so they should be able to be released back into the wild successfully.

 

[spidey07]

For those that don't know, wood ducks are absolutely gorgeous.

 

[corwin]

I am impressed...came in here expecting this

 

[zinfamous]

OMG the cute!

we put together a styrofoam incubator to incubate about 6 emu eggs here in the lab. It was damn tedious--they had to be rotated about every 4 hours for 2 straight months and the incubator itself was pretty leaky with temperature. On top of that, you could never really be sure which, if any, of the eggs were fertile.

Anyway, a few of them were viable....of course they were savagely murdered right at hatching because we needed their liver and heart tissue. Our lab benches were messy that day.

 

[zinfamous]

How much wood would a wood duck duck from if a wood duck could duck from wood being thrown at it?

lmao!

 

[brainhulk]

OMG the cute!

we put together a styrofoam incubator to incubate about 6 emu eggs here in the lab. It was damn tedious--they had to be rotated about every 4 hours for 2 straight months and the incubator itself was pretty leaky with temperature. On top of that, you could never really be sure which, if any, of the eggs were fertile.

Anyway, a few of them were viable....of course they were savagely murdered right at hatching because we needed their liver and heart tissue. Our lab benches were messy that day.

How do you sleep at night

 

[Phoenix86]

How do you sleep at night

I expect in a bed with the lights off.

 

[KeithTalent]

So awesome! I love Wood Ducks!

Good job OP.

KT