My duck eggs hatching early!?!? Did I do something wrong?

[Bsranch3]

I'm very new to using an incubator. I have watched countless videos and read everything I could find on hatching ducklings. I have kept the incubator as close to 99.5 degrees as humanly possible. I was expecting my babies Sunday and they started pipping yesterday! Is that ok or normal? I just stopped the egg turner Wednesday night. Everywhere I read 28 days for ducks except muscovys (I have large pekings, a small white breed that I'm not sure what they are, khakis, and mallards.. Oh and one Swedish oddball) and one of my little guys around the broken shell looks pink. Is he bleeding?! I'm a new nervous momma!! Any info or insight is greatly appreciated!!

 

[Bsranch3]

 

[casportpony]

My last batch hatched in 26-27 days.

-Kathy

 

[Bsranch3]

I guess I'm just nervous! My girls laid a bunch of eggs and I'm trying to hatch them. I don't seem to have any momma's out there that want to set on them because they lay them everywhere! I have a second incubator with 41 assorted duck eggs. Does this mean I shout stop the turner sooner on them? So many questions!

 

[casportpony]

I guess I'm just nervous! My girls laid a bunch of eggs and I'm trying to hatch them. I don't seem to have any momma's out there that want to set on them because they lay them everywhere! I have a second incubator with 41 assorted duck eggs. Does this mean I shout stop the turner sooner on them? So many questions!

I'm a meddler, so I am always candling them and I stop turning them when they pip internally. Maybe check your next batch at day 24 or 25 and see what they look like?

-Kathy

 

[Bsranch3]

I don't know what it looks like when they pip internally. I candled these in the first batch about every other day. My husband kept telling me to leave them be, guess I'm a meddler at heart too! But I have never been part of hatching anything before...

 

[Orca5094]

When they are internally pipped you can see the shadow of their bill in the air cell, and you should also be able to hear them peeping or tapping on the shell from the inside at that point. Good luck with your first hatch! Sounds like you'll have some new little ones in the next day or two.

 

[Bsranch3]

Thank you both! I'm so excited, so are our girls. They didn't want to go to school this morning! What about the one that looks pink around the crack in the shell? Is that normal?

 

[Bsranch3]

Most everyone here has probably seen dozens of hatches but I'm a new momma and so proud! You'd think I made these babies myself

 

[casportpony]

Sometimes they pip through a small vein, so I think that's what the pink is.

-Kathy