Detached Air Cells....What should my humidity be?

[WeTheWeys]

Hi all!
I JUST got my first duck eggs ever. They were shipped over 2 days and i received them about an hour ago. I have them propped upright pointy end down in an egg carton and am letting them rest for at least 24 hours before moving them into the incubator, where I plan to use the upright carton method.

I am still new to this and it was pretty early to check, but I candled my eggs (kind of..) and I am pretty sure the majority of the air cells are detached. I am wondering what is needed in terms of the incubator humidity to give the little guys the highest possible hatch rate?

Does higher humidity make the air cell larger?
Does lower humidity make it smaller?
Will low humidity kill an embryo if one ever forms?

Is there a way for me to candle the eggs without moving them from the incubator? will shining a flashlight through the large end that is facing upwards still show me the air cell?

thanks!

 

[SunHwaKwon]

The air cell forms as moisture leaves the white of the egg, thus lower humidity means more moisture leaving the egg and a faster "growing" air cell. For the most part, use the air cell size to guide your humidity adjustments. If the membrane seperating from the shell, though, I've found that you want moisture to leave slower so the fluid can stabilize the membrane.

 

[RubyNala97]

The air cell forms as moisture leaves the white of the egg, thus lower humidity means more moisture leaving the egg and a faster "growing" air cell. For the most part, use the air cell size to guide your humidity adjustments. If the membrane seperating from the shell, though, I've found that you want moisture to leave slower so the fluid can stabilize the membrane.

I agree with this. Also know that it’s hard hatching with detached air cells. I’ve had a batches of duck eggs that were extremely damaged but a few were able to hatch with lots of tlc (and worry). Are the air cells totally detached? Do they float all the way down the egg when you tilt the egg or are they just loose, move around but stay in the fat end?

 

[WeTheWeys]

I agree with this. Also know that it’s hard hatching with detached air cells. I’ve had a batches of duck eggs that were extremely damaged but a few were able to hatch with lots of tlc (and worry). Are the air cells totally detached? Do they float all the way down the egg when you tilt the egg or are they just loose, move around but stay in the fat end?

Thank you both for your replies. Day 10 of incubation and eight (out of twelve) are beautifully developing. One was infertile, three have what appear to be blood rings but since I was not sure, I moved them to their own separate incubator just to give them a chance. This way, if anything goes wrong, they will not contaminate the eight embryos.

Even from day one, I have never tilted the eggs upside down to see if the air cell would move all the way down the egg, because I wanted to give the air cells the best chance of re-attaching.

The size of the air cells have hardly increased from day one (despite my humidity having consistently been at 35% since day one). I have not added water or anything, this is just the humidity based on all of the external factors (I believe this is what they call dry humidity incubation??? not sure...).




Another question: will a low humidity result in eggs producing no smell, so I might miss a rotten one? The other night the power went out so I used my body heat to get the incubator up to 37.5 again, however the humidity went to 50%. Once the power came back on, the eggs had a weird odor. It was not a rotten egg smell, just a weird sort of wet mud/poop kind of smell. As the humidity decreased back to 35%, the smell has vanished. I do the smell test every time I candle, I just am not quite sure what I am smelling for....

My main question now is this:
-if all of my eggs came with detached air cells (and I was able to half-reattach them in each egg), and the embryos are perfectly developing, does this mean the ducks have a decent chance of hatching? AKA: when do detached air cells pose the most threat?

-I am not sure if they are detached or if movement is a bad thing... When tilting the eggs from the upright incubator into their opposite 45 degree position every four hours, a couple of eggs have slight movement and shifts in their air cells (which are upright, pointed end down).

Does this seem normal?

 

[RubyNala97]

I hatch all the time and I’ve never had a rotten egg. So I wouldn’t worry to much about a bad egg exploding. From what I’ve heard it’s pretty unmistakable. You will know for sure if you’ve got one. As for your air cells, it seems like you’ve done a good job at getting them to heal up! I would say the odds are good. Only time will tell once it’s time for them to hatch. I have a hard time with getting my duck eggs to lose moisture so I mist them once a day with warm water. The spike in humidity from misting actually pulls more moisture out of the egg as the humidity drops back down. What breed are you hatching?

 

[SunHwaKwon]

You will definitely know a rotten egg if you smell one. It's awful and unmistakable. I've also never had one explode, and I've done a ton of incubating. I made the mistake of cracking one open out of curiosity, though.

When it comes time to hatch, I would go ahead and let them hatch upright. This will keep the air cell from possibly shifting, resulting in a bad pip location or even collapse of the membrane, which happened with my shipped turkey eggs.

 

[WeTheWeys]

I hatch all the time and I’ve never had a rotten egg. So I wouldn’t worry to much about a bad egg exploding. From what I’ve heard it’s pretty unmistakable. You will know for sure if you’ve got one. As for your air cells, it seems like you’ve done a good job at getting them to heal up! I would say the odds are good. Only time will tell once it’s time for them to hatch. I have a hard time with getting my duck eggs to lose moisture so I mist them once a day with warm water. The spike in humidity from misting actually pulls more moisture out of the egg as the humidity drops back down. What breed are you hatching?

I am hatching pekins, white crested, blue runners, and one mallard (the other mallard eggs turned out to be infertile)

 

[WeTheWeys]

You will definitely know a rotten egg if you smell one. It's awful and unmistakable. I've also never had one explode, and I've done a ton of incubating. I made the mistake of cracking one open out of curiosity, though.

When it comes time to hatch, I would go ahead and let them hatch upright. This will keep the air cell from possibly shifting, resulting in a bad pip location or even collapse of the membrane, which happened with my shipped turkey eggs.

I have read that sometimes the ducklings have pipped in the wrong spot and ended up drowning because they pipped downwards...

I will have two extra incubators after I make my hatching incubator, so perhaps before lockdown I should split the eggs up among the three based on who looks like they are in the right position? What are your thoughts on this? And is it even possible to tell if they are in the right position so early on? (lockdown is a couple days long, if I am not mistaken, and that seems like an awfully long time for the ducklings to not alter their position in the eggs)

 

[SunHwaKwon]

You can tell where the air sac is, but you won't be able to tell where the beak/bill is until they've pipped.

I had an egg that the airsac was on the side. The chick decided to come out on the opposite side of the egg. She made it out healthy and well with no assistance. So, abnormalities at hatch time aren't always a cause for concern.

 

[RubyNala97]

I personally have never hatched upright in cartons (even with damaged, shipped eggs) but everyone finds what’s works for them. It doesn’t sound like your eggs are to bad. I bet by lockdown time all your aircells will be firm.