kleonaptra

She is 8 years old, and in 8 years she has never laid an egg. She was kept with another female until about 4 years ago, the other girl occasionally dropped an egg, she never did.

4 years ago, we got a drake. They did lots of mating behaviour and I was very excited, but after no eggs for the last few years, I really thought she was infertile.

This morning I found an egg under the pond, which I accidently crushed while changing the water as I was not looking for eggs! I doubt it was fertilized as there was no blood but there was however some white around the yolk. I am going to start checking the pen very carefully morning and night now.

Why would she start to lay now, after all this time? We recently got a duckling but I dont see how that would make a difference. They live in quite a big day pen and are locked up on our back deck at night to keep them safe as we have lost some in the past to predators. Any thoughts welcome.

First off, I dont have an incubator, Im using a small halogen lamp. I used it years ago when I was incubating, at that time I only got one duckling, this time Im trying a lot harder, checking them more often to ensure they are 36 - 37 degrees celsius, turning them and spraying with water.

I am incubating Pacific Black ducks - the eggs were rescued from a land clearing site - which generally take about 28 days to incubate. I candled them on Sunday and in at least 3 I saw the classic spot with viens, indicating about day 5 -7. I candled again today (4 days later) and the shell is almost completely taken over by shadow, from pictures on websites that looks like day 24! I was expecting it to be day 14 but they are much bigger than that, viens are still visible and I saw one of them move.

Is it possible they are incubating faster than normal because of artificial conditions? Or did I simply miscalculate how far along they were on Sunday? Seeing as how I have no way of knowing when they were laid, and I dont do this regularly, Im only guessing, and Im concerned if they are developing faster perhaps I should stop turning them and up the humidity to get ready for pipping?

Any information on this is welcome,

http://www.metzerfarms.com/Candling.cfm

This is the site Im using for images. On Sunday they looked like 'day 6' and today they look like 'day 20' The viens have never looked that big or clear but this is a small, hardy breed with dark shelled eggs.

I upgraded to new mail. I go to options, select themes, choose my theme and click done. If I navigate away from page and go back its back to default. Every time I log out then log back in its back to default.

I started a cricket farm last weekend, they are to feed my birds. They live in an old fish tank approx 60cm high and 40cm wide, egg carton structure in the centre. Soil on the floor. They get carrot and apple to eat and water spray daily. I have been doing my best to keep them warm. I expected to hear singing - which means breeding - within a few days, but they still havnt started to sing. Theres about 50 crickets, mostly babies and only two really big ones. Are they too little to start breeding?

This afternoon I set up a breeding house for crickets. Its an old fishtank, about 60cm high and 40 cm wide. In the centre is a tower of egg cartons and I put fresh soil in the bottom. They have food and water and a heat source, I put in about 100 crickets, mostly babies, only 1 or 2 adults. I just checked on them and saw a spider - a common house spider about the size of my thumbnail. Is the spider going to eat them all or do I have a few days to fish it out?

I'm almost at the end of my 8th month. Everytime I eat, I feel worn out. After breakfast, lunch and dinner I'm nodding off, I just cant keep my eyes open. I feel fine after a sleep until I eat again. I'm having a normal pregnancy and no problems. Any one else experience this?