Duckling Update

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	Egg Updates

	Mrs. Calhoun's fifth grade class started incubating 14 Cayuga Duck eggs on April 12th. It takes approximately 28 days to hatch. The expected due date is May 9th. This site will be periodically updated by students.


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On egg number one we saw a slight bit of growth only in a small spot. 4/19



	On egg number four we saw veins and movement. 4/19



		Egg number seven was fertile with veins also! 4/19




	On egg number two we think we saw the duck and some veins. 4/19



			Egg number five was not fertile. We will not see this egg hatch. 4/19




	On egg number three we saw veins a a little bit of movement. 4/19



			Egg number six is our biggest egg. We saw lots of movement from the embryo! 4/19


	May 2, 2011 Update We've candled twice since our last update. Ten out of our fourteen eggs seem to be doing well! Hooray! We only had two out of fourteen that were never fertile. Two have died. We are anxiously awaiting hatch day. It is supposed to begin on Monday, May 9th! We will post more pictures when we have ducklings.

Our hatch has begun!

9:30am May 6th - As I was taking the eggs out of the egg turner, one of the students noticed a "crack" in egg 9. It wasn't a crack, but a duckling trying to pip his way out! This came as a great surprise as they were not supposed to begin hatching until May 9.

11:14 am May 6th - We have two pipped eggs (#6 and #9). We have also seen a lot of wiggling out of eggs 2 and 11! How exciting! I am sad that the students may not get to see them hatching since they are early and it is a Friday. I will keep you all posted on the progress!

7:00pm May 6th - No changes. Although, now that the classroom is quiet, you can hear them peeping (talking) inside their little shells. I can still see them all wiggling, so I know they're still trying to get out. My next update will be in the morning!

8:22am May 7th - No ducklings yet. #4 has started to pip! #6 has more visual pipping! He is working hard to come out. Both #6 and #9 are still wiggling and talking up a storm. Maybe later this afternoon. I will be checking again around 11:30am. I think some of them are waiting for Monday so the students can be here for their hatch! YAY!

11:40am May 7 - We have our first duckling. I helped him (#9) out of his shell since he didn't seem to be making any progress on his own after over 24 hours. For those of you who know who Daffy was, he looks very similar. His intestinal area has not totally been absorbed, but I am hopeful that it will happen while he is in the incubator. It is a strong little guy! I also picked away a little at #6 since he was also not making a whole lot of progress. I will check back on both little guys in a few hours. #4 is going to town on his little shell. He'll probably be out in no time!





				Number 9



			Started to help #6, but will let him try a little on his own.

3:21pm May 7 - Mrs. Willemarck left school at 1:00pm and hadn't seen any new changes. I arrived at 3:00 to find that #4 had made it out of his shell all on his own. What a strong guy! He's dancing around inside the incubator right now. #9 is looking better. His belly looks almost completely closed up, but he is still exhausted. #6 had made no more progress while I was away at Daniel's baseball game. Sooooooo, I help him out too! He bled a little bit more than #9, but I think he'll be just fine. Both #6 and #9 are moving around which is way more than Daffy had ever done that first day. We now have three hatched. #8 is pipped now too!!!! It won't be long before we have four little ducklings waddling around in the incubator. What a wonderful Mother's Day gift!






			Those are some tight quarters #6!!! Stretch that leg out!



		#4, is in the back. #9 is in the middle. #6 is in the front. You can tell that #4's feathers are drying much quicker, because he is moving around more. #6 looks very, very tired, but that's normal! I can't wait until they have names.


	6:10pm May 7 - No major changes. #8 is still the same. All three of our ducklings are doing great. Their bellies are all healed up. It's amazing. All three are alert and walking around in the incubator. I might even have Mrs. Willemarck put them in the brooder box later tonight when she comes to visit. I will be unable to come back tonight. I will update you again in the morning.








		They are a little camera shy, but you can see in this picture that their feathers are starting to dry and fluff up a little more. They are all also holding their heads up (a sign of good health!).

12:00pm May 8 - Finally made it in today. #8 is having trouble getting through its shell today. I will probably help him out soon. #14 started to pip. I peeled a little away and saw teeny tiny amount of blood, so I will not try to help yet. I need to give it some more time, I think. Mocha has been here with me, and he seems utterly confused by our fuzzy little friends in the brooder box. I tried to get the babies to imprint on me this morning, but they weren't ready to go for a walk on the carpet yet! Can't wait to see all of you in the morning!






			Top left, What a difference a day makes. They look so cute and fluffy today. Bottom left, #8 is looking good. I am not as sure about #14 on the right. It's just a wait and see.






		Above right, Mocha is surprisingly afraid of the ducklings, but he can't help but be curious too. He'll make a good big brother.

4:26 pm May 8 - Good news/bad news...I'll start with the bad news. I tried to help #14 out of his shell at 4:00pm, because he didn't seem like he would make it through the night if I didn't. Unfortunately, he died anyway shortly after I returned him to the incubator. My sons and I are taking him home for a burial. The good news, however, is that I helped #8 out earlier when I was here around 12:30pm, and he is doing wonderfully. I just put him in the brooder box so he can dry out. The other three are keeping him warm in a little huddle. #11 also started to pip. I think he is going to be the one that will wait for all of you to come in tomorrow, so come in quietly so as not to scare him. We are up to four healthy hatches!

#8 is looking a little tired still, but he's happy!

8:00am May 9 - #11 hatched this morning and was waiting for me inside the incubator when I arrived at school. He is super strong and happy. He was dry enough to go into the brooder box with his brothers and sisters. Below is a picture of all five of our hatchlings snuggling together. We have not unplugged the incubator yet, so we will see if any of the four remaining eggs try to pip today. Since we will not be able to tell the ducklings apart as they get bigger, we've decided that everyone will just call them whatever names they'd like to. Some of the names are Tank, Pablo and Linklet. At the end of the day today we will fill up the swimming pool and give the first swimming lesson tomorrow.

May 10 - Today the ducklings all came out for a swim. They seemed to enjoy it. Wally (AKA #11) took a while to figure out that he'd float without paddling. Tank (AKA #9) has imprinted on me. He will follow me around the school as long as no other ducks are with him. We are having lots of fun with our newfound friends!

What a difference a week makes! On 5/11 he measured 4 inches. On 5/18 he measured 7 inches. WOW!