flapper the duck

The Seattle babies are HERE!

Flapper & Georgie's home babies were born May 12, 2005.

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The Pennsylvania Eggs have hatched!

Flapper & Georgie's first babies were born on April 29, 2005.
View their update here.

The 3 remaining local eggs, which Georgie is hatching herself,
are due to hatch around May 12th. Stay tuned for updates.
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After Georgie laid all 17 eggs, I hung a sign up in a local feed store
to see if anyone would be interested in adopting her baby ducklings.

UPDATE ON THE HOMEFRONT EGGS: Sunday, April 24th, 2005

Unfortunately, no one called to adopt the eggs. So before they started to develop further I removed them from the nest. This was a very hard decision to make. But since ducks can live up to 20 years, and since I had no homes arranged for these potential ducklings, I did not let all of the eggs develop into baby ducklings. 6 million unwanted pets are euthanized each year in the United States. I chose not to contribute to that problem.

Georgie was left with 3 eggs to sit on, and the other eggs were replaced with 12 wooden fake eggs. She didn't seem to mind the replacements, and kept sitting on them all to make them hatch. The three remaining fertile eggs are due to hatch sometime around May 15th I think.

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Friday, April 22nd: Last night I candled the eggs. There are 17 eggs total.
This is a photo of one of the eggs that is developing into a baby ducky.

With my hi-tech candling system (a flashlight) I can see which eggs
seem to be growing.

This dark spot is the indication of growth. Pretty cool, eh?

Wednesday, April 13th: Georgie is now constantly sitting on her nest.
I tried to bring her a worm but she told me to "step off."

There are 15 or 16 eggs she is trying to hatch. In a week or so I will see which ones are growing
by shining a flashlight through them, and then replace all but 1 or 2 of the eggs with fake wooden eggs.

UPDATE ON THE SHIPPED EGGS: Monday, April 11, 2005

Tiffany,

We have 5 babies that are due to hatch.

Debbie

UPDATE ON THE HOMEFRONT EGGS: Sunday, April 10, 2005

Georgie is now starting to think about maybe possibly beginning to nest. She has 12 eggs and she's spending SOME of her time sitting on them. She asked me for more nesting material this morning, so I gave her an assortment of yard clippings and she seems very happy. If and when she starts sitting on them constantly, I'll candle them to see if any are growing into embryos.

UPDATE ON THE SHIPPED EGGS: Thursday, April 7, 2005

GOOD NEWS!!! You will be pleased to know that at least 4-5 eggs show signs of an embryo. In the next few days I will get a better view. But for right now, I am beginning to see veins forming. No sign of embryo yet, just veins. But that is a great sign.

UPDATE ON THE SHIPPED EGGS: Monday, April 4, 2005

Tiffany,

So far there is no sign of an embryo (not fertile). I will give the eggs until the end of the week and let you know.

Hopefully they are fertile!

Debbie

UPDATE ON THE SHIPPED EGGS: Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Tiffany,

Eggs arrived around 2:20pm today. Not one broke. I'll let them get room temp (they were sooo cold) then place them in the bator. In 5-7 days I'll candle to see how they are doing. We should see a spider-like blood vessel in there by then. I'll keep you posted. Cross your fingers...

Debbie

Monday, March 28, 2005: There are 8 eggs now.
I sent the first 7 eggs to a woman in Pennsylvania who is looking to hatch them.
She has a muscovy who looks similar to Georgie and is hoping they will look like her.
She has promised to send photos if/when the eggs hatch, which should be
around the first week of May. Keep your fingers crossed!

Good luck little eggs!