First time incubating - so excited!!

[Xmasbaby75]

So, my eggs finally arrived today! We are starting with 14 Ancona duck eggs. I read that we have to wait 24 hours before putting them in the incubator, is this correct?

 

[WVduckchick]

I'm mobile at the moment, hard to tell from the pic. Will look again when I get back to the big screen

 

[WVduckchick]

Yea, that definitely doesn't look normal. There's a possibility of them "exploding" if they rot, but normally you will notice a bad odor first. So you can leave them until you are positive, but please investigate any weird smell!

I pulled these with a google search... not my pics. Basically, all the blood vessels join with each other, causing a ring to form.

 

[WVduckchick]

This is one of my pics... nice healthy veins.

 

[WVduckchick]

I will try and hold back! I know it is still breathing, because I can see the beak come out for air every so often. I will only intervene if I think he won't make it, or if he stops moving, but I will wait a little longer and give him some time. So nerve-wracking! Thank you both for your responses. I just don't want to mess this up.

Good idea. Really... going in too soon is almost always recipe for disaster. Not going in can indicate that it shouldn't have made it anyway. Things happen. So you really have to weigh your expectations and also the consequences of your actions. Do you want to nurse a deformed baby? Some say yes.... I say I don't.. So its a personal decision that you have to make on your own. We can only help with guidance.

 

[PotatoWaffles]

I have an update!  Well, as the hours ticked by we realized we were going to have to intervene as much as we did not want to.  The poor little guy was really stuck, and was ready to come out - no blood, the yolk was all absorbed, and he was drying out fast.  The membrane became very dry and actually kind of glued itself to the duck's back.  We were able to get most of it off, but he actually has a couple of bald spots were it was stuck - no pin feathers grew there.  We were very careful.  He is still okay, but after about 12 hours, he still looks a little wet, where as the other ones fluffed up fully in that amount of time.  So, two ducklings are in the brooder, and two more in the incubator drying off.  So far, there's no other signs of hatching on any of the other eggs, but we are still watching them.

Maybe try giving a warm bath to the one that hasn't dried yet? I had a duckling like that in the last batch I hatched. The membrane hardened on her side and wing and face. After sitting in the brooder for about 14 hours, it was clear she wasn't going to fluff up on her own. And I noticed that the hardened membrane on her face was preventing her from closing her outer eyelid! She could only close the inner one. She would fall asleep with her eyes open. It was kind of creepy and very worrisome.

So I was forced to give her her first bath very early. I filled the bathroom sink about an inch with warm water and made sure she got all good and soaked completely. And I gently used q-tips to get the rest of the membrane off of her. Rubbing them carefully around her eyes was the hardest part because she was so squirmy. After about 15 minutes, I wrapped her up in a towel, and in about an hour she was as fluffy as could be, and could close her eyes and sleep normally.

Here she is before her bath. Note: she is completely dry, but not fluffy due to the hardened membrane

Here she is about and hour after her bath. She has a boot on because she had curled toe pretty badly as well

And here she is a couple day as later all healthy as can be

 

[Kroelies]

I didn't do this with my eggs but mine didn't come from very far. If you got them by mail it's probably better to let them be for a day. You might want to check if the air cells are still in the right place, sometimes they can get loose from the shipment. There should be some articles about this on the site, so try to find and read them

Good luck!e

 

[Orca5094]

Yes, that's what most people seem to do with shipped eggs to allow them to settle after shipping. I would do as Kroelies suggested and candle them all as well to check for air cell damage and shallow cracks that might not be visible otherwise, just to assess their condition and see if you need to provide any further special care for any of them. If you do a search for "shipped eggs" or "damaged air cells" on here you should find alot of information about shipped eggs and what to do if any of them have damaged or loose air cells. Good luck with your hatch!

 

[Kroelies]

Silly ducks and their love for mud. They look dirty but eggs should not be "cleaned" because they have a very thin layer of oil that protects them. Just in case you didn't know this already

 

[fire370]

If the humidity is between 35% - 45%, do I need to spray the eggs every day?

No. I run dry until lockdown then boost to 65-70 percent. Watch your air cells when you are candling and let them tell you whether you need to add/takeaway humidity.