JCHS Child Care & Case's Little Faces

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   Joined Apr 24, 2012
May 12, 2019- Good Morning and Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's out there!
Sorry the ducklings were away for a little while.  They are now in their new home.  Occasionally, I will be taking them out to eat and walk around.  Hopefully, you have a better view of them now.  Enjoy your day today and enjoy taking a peek at them now and again!

Sorry I know it is not the best to see but  I will keep trying for all of you. Hopefully, they will be much easier to see once they are out of the incubator.  These ducklings are Black Indian Runners.  May 11, 2019-Good Afternoon! Hello again!  At of 10:57 AM, Egg#2 finally hatched.  It may be difficult to see with them all squished in the incubator but Egg#1 was partially hatched. At 4:00PM, believe it or not half his body was still in the egg. With a little rough housing by his siblings, he was officially out of his egg at 4:40.  I have removed all the shells, but the ducklings must remain in the incubator a bit longer.  They all need to be nice and dry.  I do apologize for being offline right now but I am trying to move them so that you have a better view. May 11, 2019-Good Morning! Hello everyone.  At about 8:21 AM Egg#3 hatched.  You will see that his egg still remains in the incubator and I will keep it in there for a little while just to be safe.  I want to make sure the duckling is completely detached before disrupting it.  I do apologize for all the shadows.  I am trying to ways to avoid that.  Please be patient with me while I try to make your view better.  The humidity will increase due to their body heat and moisture within the incubator so condensation and fog on the lid will occur.  Even with all these little glitches, I hope you are enjoying the hatching process.I'm sure I will have another update later today!  Happy Saturday! May 10, 2019 Hello Everyone!  As you can see all eggs have a pip.  Well, Egg#2 has a bigger opening.  Still a bit worried about that guy.  He is definitely tiring out.  Hopefully we will see him pop out soon.  Since, I will be unable to get back to school tomorrow, Saturday, to check on them, I decided to be very brave and take them home with me. Transporting them makes me very nervous.  I will continue to have the webcam on them while they are at my home.  We must all continue to cross our fingers and hope for the best that these three little ducklings are strong enough to fight their way out of the shell.  Since the car ride home, Eggs #2 and 3 have been moving quite a bit and Egg#2 keeps peeping. So keep your eyes peeled for some little ones.  Once hatched and dry I will move them to their box and keep the webcam on them so that you can enjoy watching them snuggle and play together.  Talk to you again soon!  May 9, 2019 - Evening Update   Before heading home, I wanted to give everyone a little update.  As you can see not much has changed since this morning.  Egg#2 has lost a bit of the shell around the 'pip' exposing some of the membrane.  Keep an eye at the area because as he build energy, he will begin to continue his breakout : )  You may even see his bill pop out from the hole.  :  )  Eventually, he will  “zip,” or turns around in the shell and makes a crack all around.  Zipping only takes a few hours, or even less than an hour. After zipping, the duckling pops the top off and is usually out and fully hatched within minutes. Remember, he must remain in the incubator until dry.  As for Eggs #1 and #3, the students and I, held them close to our ears and can hear them working inside.  We could hear them tapping away.  Remember, this takes lots of work and lots of their energy.  They need hours to rest in between.  If Egg#2 decides to make his entrance, he may encourage the other two to work a little harder and faster.  Let's see what the morning brings us. May 9, 2019 - Morning Update It looks like Egg #2 is a fighter for sure.  This little one has made a 'pip' and is now resting. Remember ‘pips’ (small holes or cracks) that appear in the eggshells. After making that initial hole, the duckling will often take a lengthy break to rest up for the final breakout. This break can last for hours – up to 12 hours is quite common. The duckling will then begin to make its way out of the shell, ‘zipping’ off the top of the egg and emerging from the shell.  You will notice that I have circled the 'pip' since this will be the spot to watch.  I will do this with the remaining eggs once a 'pip' is made.  Egg#3 is again active.  This one definitely responds to me talking to it.  : ) So, let's all continue to wait patiently for our babies to arrive. The entire process of hatching duck eggs can take 48 hours or longer.  Once hatched I will leave the ducklings in the incubator until they are dried and rested . May 8, 2019 Well it's official.  There are only 3 days left.  Egg #3 has been moving on and off today, so we will definitely have to keep an eye on that one.  I must also say, I am a bit worried about Egg #2.  There is a slight discoloration on the shell.  This could indicate that the duckling has died.  We will have to wait to see if anything changes.  If I do not think this egg will hatch I will be removing it from the incubator.  We do not want it to spread bacteria to the othe eggs or explode due to the gas build up in the egg (that would be a disaster).  We will have to keep a watchful eye.   Look for signs of movement and for a pip.  A pip is when the duckling pops the shell up a bit attempting to make it's first whole for air.   May 3, 2019 I started the incubation process at home at the start of April vacation, Saturday, April 13th.  I brought the eggs to school on April 22nd.  Duck eggs take about 28 days to hatch.  The count is 8 more days to go. There are 3 eggs incubating.  The incubator keeps them at a temperature of 37 degrees Celsius  which is about 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit.  This the same as our body temperature.  The students hear a beep or beeping sound occasionally.  This beeping sound indicates that the eggs will be turning. You should be able to see them turn.  Each egg has been labeled with a number.  This is to help us see and be sure the eggs are turning.  Normally the mother duck would sit on her eggs to keep them safe and warm and she would also move them around several times a day.  The incubator must take the mom's place.  It must keep the eggs warm, maintain the proper humidity level and rotate the eggs. When we are at 3 days left the incubator will stop rotating the eggs.  This means things are getting close and it prepares the ducklings for hatch time. PLEASE keep in mind, just like a pregnancy things could go wrong.  We could lose a baby or all three babies at anytime during the incubation process as well as during the hatching time.  Ducklings have also for one reason or another died after birth.  We must be prepared for anything.  So let's keep our fingers crossed that nothing bad happens. Please join in the excitement and watch the event take place.  Pass the word so others may also enjoy watching the ducklings hatch. Our expected delivery date  is May 10th, so stay tuned. Please feel free to post comments regarding this experience on our Case's Little Faces Blog if you'd like. Thanks so much and enjoy! Mrs. Alexander
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