Incubation progress of Muscovy eggs

[AnimalQuackers]

I'd like a lesson on humidity!

-Kathy

Ditto!

And I also echo what Bob said - I think I echoed it earlier in this thread. You can tell me what to do, and I will do it, but if I understand the REASONING behind WHY I am doing it, I am much better at it and make much better decisions in the future!

 

[casportpony]

Darn, looks like a bunch of mine are are malpostioned with their feet over their heads and some with both feet over and beak over right wing!

-Kathy

 

[Lacrystol]

hahahaha... I think you know my opinion of "lockdown"!

simply put.. it was created by the "old timers" who got tired of "newbies" messing with the eggs.. and instead of finding the reason WHY a hatch would fail.. they put the blame squarely onto the newbie's shoulders for opening the darn incubator.. 


my parents and grandparents never did "lockdown".. their grandparents never did either... it was never heard of until recently...  chickens, ducks and other birds also don't "lockdown"... it's just become the "new thing" to do since it's easier to place blame than to figure out what the real issue is.. whether it be sanitation, poor fertility, carbon dioxide poisoning, lack of proper turning, bad feeding of adult birds, poor incubator design, poor humidity during incubation / hatch and so on... 

Ahhh i don't believe this is entirely true..I've observed and pay very close attention to "lockdown" days for my ducks and chickens study them very closely. I beg to differ with them not lockdown. I've notice changes taken place when in comes to hatching time as far as what they do and how they do it..

 

[Lacrystol]

Darn, looks like a bunch of mine are are malpostioned with their feet over their heads and some with both feet over and beak over right wing!

-Kathy

How's your upside downer doing any progress.

 

[casportpony]

Quote: None of them have made any progress, except for the one that I helped out, lol.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

Here's the one I helped. Umbilicus is nice and clean!



-Kathy

 

[charlindabob]

I'd like a lesson on humidity!

-K

First, we are discussing humidity, only one of several factors for a successful hatch. You must understand that an egg shell is porous meaning moisture can pass through the egg either from the inside out or from the outside in. It happens slowly but over the course of incubation time it can and does mean life or death.

Eggs MUST lose weight during incubation. When you have humidity too high, the egg will gain weight meaning the embryo gains weight. Now you must also understand that the duckling inside the egg must be able to move and position its head toward the air sac and breathe come hatching day. It must also be able to turn within the shell to enable it to cut the shell so it can hatch. You will notice on shells that have hatched that they were cut by the egg tooth and the duckling did not bust out of the shell like "superduck" but cut their way out. Now what happens when the duckling is too "fat" or too full of liquid to move within the shell? It dies. It suffocates. It is unable to puncture the air sac and if it happens to get that far, it is unable to rotate within the shell to cut its way out.

Imagine yourself in a tight fitting sleeping bag all zipped up. Now imagine yourself gaining, say 15 pounds or so while still inside that tight fitting sleeping bag. Now, let's see you roll over within that sleeping bag. Does that make sense?

If you have high dollar eggs or you really want to get the best hatch rate you can and are using an incubator, a small food scale that weighs in grams is very nice to have. I bought a digital scale in the kitchen gadget aisle at Wal-Mart for around 15 bucks, maybe even less.

Eggs need to lose about 2.8% (two point eight percent) per week during the incubation. In two weeks the should lose 5.6 percent and in three weeks 8.4 percent and in four weeks 11.2 % and for Muscovys at 5 weeks, they should have lost a total of 14% of their day one starting weight. It is not real critical to be right on-the-money, but you should be close. I weigh weekly and if they have lost too much weight, I add water to the incubator and if not enough, I do my best to lower the humidity.

I do not know if this is an exact science, but if you are having full term deaths, humidity can be one of several culprits and should be taken seriously.

yinepu, help me out, did I explain that correctly and have you anything to add?

 

[casportpony]

That was very helpful, but what can you do if some are losing more weight than others, which is I think what happened with egg #10, it just didn't lose enough weight and it died yesterday or the day before. I know I have much to learn, so please, if you don't mind, I would love to learn all I can! I have a food scale, but I also have a gram scale that I bought to weigh eggs, but haven't used it yet.

Here are two pictures that show the air cells. Interestingly, 1,2,7 and 8 were the ones that pipped or tried to pip where this brown spot is on this egg:







-Kathy

 

[charlindabob]

That was very helpful, but what can you do if some are losing more weight than others, which is I think what happened with egg #10, it just didn't lose enough weight and it died yesterday or the day before. I know I have much to learn, so please, if you don't mind, I would love to learn all I can! I have a food scale, but I also have a gram scale that I bought to weigh eggs, but haven't used it yet.

Here are two pictures that show the air cells. Interestingly, 1,2,7 and 8 were the ones that pipped or tried to pip where this brown spot is on this egg:







-Kathy

I will assume the brown spot is a stain and that is understandable IF it was there when you put the eggs in the incubator. I try not to wash my eggs unless it is just a have too case

You really need to weigh and mark your eggs before incubation so you know exacts. I mark mine 1 thru ? on the big end and somewhere on the side I put the day they go in the incubator and you can also put the date laid if you are so inclined. I also put an X on one side and an O on the other and although I have a turner in my incubator, I like to turn them by hand once a day for awhile.~~

Eggs need to lose about 2.8% (two point eight percent) per week during the incubation. In two weeks the should lose 5.6 percent and in three weeks 8.4 percent and in four weeks 11.2 % and for Muscovys at 5 weeks, they should have lost a total of 14% of their day one starting weight. It is not real critical to be right on-the-money, but you should be close. I weigh weekly and if they have lost too much weight, I add water to the incubator and if not enough, I do my best to lower the humidity.

Eggs losing to much weight?.........add water.
Eggs not losing enough weight?...remove water
Have too high of humidity even after you remove all water? Add some desiccant (sp.?). I have used a blue crystal cat litter, but charcoal briquettes may work, anything that absorbs moisture.

Unless you are an expert at hatching eggs, the size of the air sac may be guess work and isn't as exact as weighing in grams. Also, just before hatch, candle your eggs and check the air sac. Where the air sac dips into the egg the furthest is the top, mark it and position the eggs accordingly. This is for those of us that incubate the eggs on their side.

Oh, and if some of the eggs are losing more weight than the others, try to get an average or "middle ground", It doesn't have to be exact, just close. I have that problem with every clutch and have considered using another incubator, but haven't yet. Some eggs are going to give you a migraine and we live with it...lol

 

[casportpony]

The brown spot is *not* a stain, it's exactly where the duckling tried to pip, but the air sac was 180 degrees away. This one died in the shell, two others managed to pip through the shell and one I helped.

-Kathy