Well, my cross-species hatching experiment was officially a failure. I had to dispose of the last 3 eggs today. When I checked on Zoe a couple hours ago, they were starting to stink the place up, so I decided I better get rid of them before the poor girl got splatted in rotten egg goo.
I candled them one last time to be on the safe side (you’d never guess there were embryos kicking around in there earlier this week–it was just drifting chunky goo), and sent them to egg heaven.
Afterwards, I found this, which had been delivered yesterday & was still outside:
I guess I’ll hang onto it and try again next time. But next time the broody will get her own little ark.
I’m sorry to hear about the failed hatch. It’s really hard. Both the sadness and the hatching of duck eggs. It’s wonderful when it works, but we had more than our share of failed hatches, both with broodies and with the incubator. Keep trying. I do recommend your idea of separating the broody and her eggs next time. Also, there’s a book that might be a useful addition to your library called “A Guide to Better Hatching” by Janet Stromberg. Perhaps not until you’ve recovered from this loss.