I went threw her eggs yesturday and got rid of 5 eggs. she started setting on them last wednesday and hasn't left but to go bath in the pond and eat. so now she has 16 that I know are not rotten and are fertile. I got rid of the ones that had the blood ring and there was only one that smelled bad. So hopefully we're on track and she has a good hatch. Only time will tell now right? So question--- for the two mallard eggs I got left in my incubator, when do I stop turning them and lower the temp. a bit and humidity? I have a still air and I turn them by hand and mist them with water plus I have water in the incubator as well. I have read that mallard eggs hatch on the 26th day and you stop turning them on the 23rd day not 28 days and stop turning them on the 25th day. Which is it?

Boy, can I conjure this up in my mind. At one time I had about a hundred hens, who were laying an egg a day. Believe me, it doesn't take long to get into large numbers of eggs. Thankfully fresh farm eggs sell well, but there were always those weeks when you had ten or twelve dozen you needed to do something with and those ended up as noodles. Pounds and pounds of noodles. And pounds. It seemed like 16500 at the time as I worked through the night. This hit my heartstrings a little, because they were on their way to a hatchery. These weren't your over-easy variety of sterile unfertile supermarket eggs. They were just a few weeks and a little warmth short of this.

i am going to bet a buck.. that there will be no one with experience.. because who is going to go thru the pulp to find out ... why go to all that effort??? you dont plan on using the pulp.. do you???? i would suggest.. that most of us.. would just send them away.. with the garbage man ... i dont know what the bet is about.. but i would suggest. the through crushing of a bug will kill it ... the impact necessary to get thru the shell should completely mash what is inside.. would one think .. heck.. butternut is a type of walnut.. and i havent even figured out.. how to smash that nut open ... talk about hard shelled ... ken

Wow sorry Linda, I hear your pain. We have HOWR here every summer and we did lose 1 egg (of four) in July 2007. But I don't think our wren situation is as difficult as yours seems to be. We see them nearby occasionally, and often hear them not too far away. But we chase them off if/when any come on our property. And our parent Blues (Missy & Mr.B) both discourage them ferociously if they ever come near Missy's box. This pair has successfully fledged 41 baby blues in the past 3 seasons (8 completed nests with a 9th underway), without a single loss of either egg or chick to the wrens. We've made our decision not to use a wren guard for reasons we are comfortable with. And frankly we've heard just too many accounts of HOWR destroying nests in boxes that had wren guards installed. We know that many bird lovers willingly allow and even encourage House Wrens to nest and breed, and this can lead to their forcing many other songbirds out of a habitat completely. (The same could be said of the House Sparrows). So, I'm not sure how to offer you specific advice or comfort. I fear it will be up to you and your Bluebirds to overcome your local HOWR problem. Best luck to you and your birds, Kenn Here is a link that might be useful: Kenn & Temple's Bluebirds