Jacob Duckman
Chirping
Today is day 29 from the time I transferred all my 10 duck eggs to the pre-heated incubator.
The parents are a male Rouen and a female crested swedish hybrid. I used a small 10-egg incubator
I candled on day 7 and removed 2 unfertilized eggs. On day 21 the incubator started smelling like ammonia so i did a smell test on each egg and removed 3 more eggs that smelled bad. In retrospect, i should have thrown a couple of these eggs out in the first place because they had a little bit too much dirt on them.
For the first 20 days i kept temp at 99 and humidity at 55%. I sprayed the eggs with warm tap water once a day and placed them right back into the incubator with the cover slightly off until humidity returned to 55% and covered it back up. this took about 10 minutes.
On day 28, one duckling pipped and partially exited its shell but died a few hours later. I did not intervene.
On day 29 I removed one more egg that started smelling bad, and another egg started pipping. a few hours later the egg started visibly drying up around the hole and the duckling seemed less active. I decided to intervene by very carefullly peeling away around the hole and slicing the hardened rubbery white layer with a fresh/clean carpenter knife blade to help the duck. I sprayed the duckling with some warm water and covered the incubator. A few hours later the duckling looked well and dried/fluffy, so i moved it to an enclosure where it is now. plastic storage bin with straw bedding and ceramic heat lamp 30 watts @ 92 F
that duckling is now eating and drinking on its own and looking alright.
will update with more info. If i see no more pipping by the end of the day i will likely breach the eggs to check for any signs of life
I would love to hear suggestions, thank you
*edit; forgot to mention that since 'lockdown' 3 days ago, i have kept the temp at 98 and upped the humidity to 65 (after having read and heard a LOT of conflicting information)
The parents are a male Rouen and a female crested swedish hybrid. I used a small 10-egg incubator
I candled on day 7 and removed 2 unfertilized eggs. On day 21 the incubator started smelling like ammonia so i did a smell test on each egg and removed 3 more eggs that smelled bad. In retrospect, i should have thrown a couple of these eggs out in the first place because they had a little bit too much dirt on them.
For the first 20 days i kept temp at 99 and humidity at 55%. I sprayed the eggs with warm tap water once a day and placed them right back into the incubator with the cover slightly off until humidity returned to 55% and covered it back up. this took about 10 minutes.
On day 28, one duckling pipped and partially exited its shell but died a few hours later. I did not intervene.
On day 29 I removed one more egg that started smelling bad, and another egg started pipping. a few hours later the egg started visibly drying up around the hole and the duckling seemed less active. I decided to intervene by very carefullly peeling away around the hole and slicing the hardened rubbery white layer with a fresh/clean carpenter knife blade to help the duck. I sprayed the duckling with some warm water and covered the incubator. A few hours later the duckling looked well and dried/fluffy, so i moved it to an enclosure where it is now. plastic storage bin with straw bedding and ceramic heat lamp 30 watts @ 92 F
that duckling is now eating and drinking on its own and looking alright.
will update with more info. If i see no more pipping by the end of the day i will likely breach the eggs to check for any signs of life
I would love to hear suggestions, thank you
*edit; forgot to mention that since 'lockdown' 3 days ago, i have kept the temp at 98 and upped the humidity to 65 (after having read and heard a LOT of conflicting information)
Last edited:
