- Oct 30, 2015
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I'm currently getting really frustrated with my muscovy eggs. I have a small backyard flock of them but every clutch (4 so far) I've tried to artificially incubated has only had one or two ducklings (out of 4 - 5 eggs) survive the hatch. The rest, if they aren't duds, will pip and then quit. When I open them up, the blood vessels have all receded but they won't have absorbed the yolk. I swear I must be doing something wrong at this point.
I do have my hens sitting on nests of their own this year so getting new ducklings is not an issue, but I would like to be able to hatch them artificially too. I've done chickens and quail with no problem. Set and forget them and some time later I take out the autoturner and bam, 90% - 100% hatch rate.
I'm using a Janoel 12. Set to 37.6 C (99.7 F). Dry incubation because it gets humid here in the NE during spring. My extra thermometer/hydrometer reads anywhere between 30% - 60% humidity on any given day although today it's at 75% due to the last two days of (and continuing) rain. Auto turner taken out on Day 27 and begin lockdown. I start getting pips day 29 - 31. Maybe one or two will zip and hatch. The rest will have just quit. Some before internally pipping, some after. Not malpositioned (except the first clutch last year when I didn't realize they would internally pip so soon and didn't take out the auto turner in time), sticky, or shrink wrapped either. The air cells look good.
So unbelievably frustrated. Any idea what might be going on?
My hens are all under 2 years old except for a single 5 year old hen. They free range on an acre and get chicken layer feed as well.
I do have my hens sitting on nests of their own this year so getting new ducklings is not an issue, but I would like to be able to hatch them artificially too. I've done chickens and quail with no problem. Set and forget them and some time later I take out the autoturner and bam, 90% - 100% hatch rate.
I'm using a Janoel 12. Set to 37.6 C (99.7 F). Dry incubation because it gets humid here in the NE during spring. My extra thermometer/hydrometer reads anywhere between 30% - 60% humidity on any given day although today it's at 75% due to the last two days of (and continuing) rain. Auto turner taken out on Day 27 and begin lockdown. I start getting pips day 29 - 31. Maybe one or two will zip and hatch. The rest will have just quit. Some before internally pipping, some after. Not malpositioned (except the first clutch last year when I didn't realize they would internally pip so soon and didn't take out the auto turner in time), sticky, or shrink wrapped either. The air cells look good.
So unbelievably frustrated. Any idea what might be going on?
My hens are all under 2 years old except for a single 5 year old hen. They free range on an acre and get chicken layer feed as well.