Co-parenting... will I get them to hatch! *Assisted hatch success & pictures!!!*

[TinaK]

I couldn't think of another way to word it.... but I feel like I have entered a co-parenting arrangement with my muscovy duck!

My dearest muscovy duck 'trigger' sat on her second batch of eggs this season (first lot were unfertile) and unfortunately I had to attempt to relocate her nest due to a tom turkey who thinks he is a duck and 3 other boys entering their first breeding season. It was a hasty and unplanned event.

She had been on the eggs since at least the 25th of June. (I'm going by a facebook post I wrote about how excited I was!)

Sadly Mumma duck didn't take kindly to the relocation and refused to sit back on her eggs. I had turned the incubator on.... and after a few hours of watching her stomp back and forth across her new crate pen... and the eggs getting cold to the touch, I knew I had to take the eggs inside. (I actually then gave her 4 warmed up chicken eggs to give her a bit more time to adjust... but she was having no part in this new nest arrangement!).

So... it has been 5 days since the move and tonight I candled to see movement in 5 out of the 6 eggs. All look great and are 100% dark except for the air sac.

Now I am stressing!!!!!! They are still alive!!!!!!! I really thought I would have killed them all! I don't want to fail after Mumma duck did such a good job of getting them this far.

My concerns are as follows:

1. I have no idea when they are due to hatch! As she is a muscovy its usually 35 days. Based on my calculations they are AT LEAST 30 days along. *I'm almost hyperventilating just thinking about this all!!!!*

2. How do I know when to stop turning. Should I be turning? Is turning up until hatch date worse than not turning at all? Opinions please!!!!

3. I have only ever used my home made incubator once before. Usually I calibrate it with a water wriggler but this time I just set the temp where I thought it looked good and hoped. Would they be dead by now if the temp was too high or low? EIK! Seeing as they have been in there for 5 days and are not dead yet, should I just leave the temp 'as is' and hope for the best?

4. Humidity. It fluctuates up and down. Do I want to keep it higher or lower? As I don't know how far away hatch date is... what should I do!!!

5. My incubator gets damp if I run at a high humidity (say around 60%). Will this be a problem for duck eggs?

Oh me, Oh my...... I wish I didn't enter this dual parenting arrangement! It is all too much!

 

[Cats Cradle]

I saw your post earlier today and was hoping some muscovy experts would jump in and help. But, I know that muscovy experts are few and far between, so when I looked again and saw no response yet I decided I could at least offer support!

I have hatched (just last week) muscovy ducks from shipped eggs. I had 3 hatch. So I do know a little, but not much. I have hatched lots of chickens, but that's different.

I put my eggs into "lockdown" on day 32. At that time I candled and could see that a couple had internally pipped. So that is probably a clue to how far along you are... if you candle every day you could estimate you are on day 32 when you see internal pipping. You are also close to hatching. My first one externally pipped on day 33.

Since you say you are at least 30 days along I would think you are safe to stop turning. I think it's better to let them find their position to hatch now.

At lockdown I lowered my temp to 98 degrees and raised the humidity as much as I could, which was about 73%.

My eggs were SLOW to progress. Finally, about 36 hours after pipping a couple were making some real progress and one zipped about 1/3 of the way around. Unfortunately, that was how far they got and hours later I decided it was time to help. My humidity must not have been high enough as all 3 that had pipped were stuck and I had to moisten membranes to free them. So mine was far from a perfect hatch, but all 3 that pipped are doing great today!

Have you candled the eggs at all yet? If so, what could you see?

 

[TinaK]

thank you catscradle for your response! It is appreciated that you took the time to share your experience with me.

All eggs looked great when I last candled! I'm now just hoping and waiting! I will keep candling though..... just to keep my eye on things and to see whether I have internal pips.

 

[Cats Cradle]

I'm glad they all are looking good!

You will know the internal pip when you see it. Since mine were my first duck eggs, I wasn't sure if it would be easy to see. but as soon as I candled an egg that had internally pipped it was quite clear what I was looking at! I could see the little beak moving around in there... so cute!

Are you misting the eggs? I misted mine daily from about 10 days until lockdown. My understanding is this helps soften the membranes. (Again... I'm no expert. I just followed the directions I had!)

Come on duckies!!! You can do it!!!

 

[Cats Cradle]

How are they doing? Any pips yet?

 

[TinaK]

I'm back! After a longgg weekend away. Well it feels longer than it actually was!

No pips yet catscradle! ARGHHH! But I have internal pips! No idea when that happened as I was gone for 3 days... but now I am freaking out a little! hurry up duckies! My humidity was sooo low when I got home that I am a little bit concerned. It's sitting at 50% now.. but I'd like to get it higher!

 

[TinaK]

I have the eggs numbered - 1 through to 6

#1 - Looks like it has pipped internally. Plenty of movement.
#2 - Same as above
#3 - No movement seen. No internal pips. May have lost this one

. It was moving on Friday.
#4 - Looks good. Has internally pipped and plenty of movement
#5 - As above
#6 - I'd say this is a dud and full of muck. I won't pull it out though, just in case.

So, I'm thinking 4 out of the 6 eggs might hatch. The other 2 I don't have much hope for!!!

 

[Cats Cradle]

Welcome back!

I really wish someone who knows more than I do would jump on here and advise you! Please remember I've done only 1 muscovy hatch... so factor that in as you read my thoughts.

Like I said above, my 3 that externally pipped all eventually needed assistance. Even though I kept the humidity at about 73% (as high as I could get it) they eventually dried to the point they were stuck and needed assistance.

I also had 2 more that intenally pipped, but never externally pipped. Unfortunately, they died. I hadn't opened the incubator until almost 48 hours after my first external pip, and at that point when I candled there was no movement. I even opened a small hole up into the air sac area to be sure. I think they suffocated from going too long after internally pipping without externally pipping.

I wondered if I had opened up that hole into the air sac area earlier if they might have survived. Of course, doing that very likely leads to assisting the hatch, which I normally avoid with chickens. But, everything I read said muscovies are hard to hatch in an incubator, so I think that because of that I am more open to thinking about assisting them.

I am sending good hatching thoughts to your duckies!!!! Please keep me posted!

 

[TinaK]

Thanks Cats Cradle! I appreciate your support!!!!

I have managed to get the humidity up to about 70%. I'll just be keeping my fingers crossed now. I'm not sure what else to do! Sitting & waiting seems to be the best option!

 

[TinaK]

I just couldn't help myself.... I've gone down the 'assisted hatch' route...... and now there is no turning back!

Eggs #2, 4, & 5 still have live babies in them.

Egg #1 had stopped showing signs of life... no movement at all. This got me very worried about the others that had internally pipped. I began to wonder if they had been pipped for too long and were now suffocating within the shell.

So I found a few threads in here about intervention and assisted hatching.... which goes against everything I believe. I only began to consider it when I was seeing eggs stop moving, one by one.

I got a warm wash cloth, a sharp blade, warm water and what you guys call Q tips. I also turned a heater on in the room to 'pre warm' the outside air. Once the room was about 35 degrees (celsius) I turned the heater off and began to prepare myself! I can tell you, I was shaking at this point!!!!

I picked up an egg that had internally pipped and gently scratched an X into the shell. I then slowly began to slowly chip off little bits of shell to provide some help. I kept dabbing warm water onto the area I was working on and held the egg gently in the warm wash cloth. I didn't actually pierce a membrane or anything so I put the egg back to see what would happen over the next few hours. I followed the same process for the other 2 eggs that still had movement.

4 hours later there was still no sign of any action. So I began to wonder whether I should chip away a little more and possibly open a hole in the membrane. I couldn't help myself... so I went back in for step 2 of the operation.

On 2 of the eggs I have been able to find a little beak. They seemed very happy to get some air and started cheeping away. I made sure I was careful not to get any water near their nostrils in fear of drowning them.

So those 2 have beaks out through a hole and are now sitting in the incubator rocking away. Hopefully building up their strength to make the final push!

One of the eggs LOOKED like it was internally pipped but when I began to chip away at the shell I noticed that it seemed more shrink wrapped than anything. So I have simply opened a little hole and dabbed some water inside the shell. It is still moving but it seems to have wriggled away from the opening. Not very hopeful for this one.

Now I am going to sit on my hands again and wait. This IS NOT FUN!