Incubation progress of Muscovy eggs

[casportpony]

Hi everyone,

Happy to be joining this thread I just set 25 Muscovy duck eggs in the still air incubator on Sunday. This is our first incubation! They were taken from various clutches that my ducks have laid over the past couple weeks (honestly, there are a few that could be really old... I just grabbed whatever was laying out without disturbing their active nests). I weighed each egg before putting it in the incubator, and marked the air cell on about half of them (I was pressed for time with my 7 year old "helping").

Any recommendations on turning them quickly in a still air incubator? I'm worried about all of that heat loss each time I turn them.

What temp do you have it at? I ask because some people don't know that 99.5 is too low for a still air.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

From:https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-101
Quote:

-Kathy

 

[danotoyou2]

What temp do you have it at? I ask because some people don't know that 99.5 is too low for a still air.

-Kathy

It's set at 101.5.
I have a digital thermometer on one end, and an old fashioned one sitting on the other end, neither are touching anything.

 

[danotoyou2]

In addition to the 25 in the incubator, I also have 2 ducks sitting on clutches. LOL They have 15 eggs, and 11 eggs, and another duck looks like she's going to start setting any day now, and she has about a dozen eggs in her clutch. I'm hedging my bets against predators or other issues and trying the incubator too.

 

[rey99]

Well, I think I've lost another one. Egg D has no movement and all the veins have disappeared. . Egg A is doing good though, kicking and a big air sac. I'm starting to worry there isn't enough humidity now. Ahhhh!! I'm getting gray hair waiting on these critters!!!

 

[rey99]

Internal pip! I can see a tiny bill pecking away at the inside of the egg and hear a tap every time it hits. He (or she) has been going at it for over 12 hours (and maybe longer) and I have no idea if I should wait, drill an air hole, or what to do. He's also tapping at the bottom of the air sac instead of at the top-so maybe he's upside down? AHHHHH!!! Chickens were easier!

 

[randerson846]

Hows it going now and rember that ducks take longer to hatch out from pip, they can take upto about 48 hours so be patient ahaha but i love this part

 

[rey99]

He still hadn't made an external pip and his taps were getting fainter so I made a tiny air hole. He must have liked it because the second I poked through the membrane I could see him stick his bill up into the center of the air sac and kinda...shake it? Sneeze? Not sure what to call it, be he did that a couple times but then started chirping and really whacking at the shell. Its been several hours but I don't see any progress. Sitting on my hands trying to be patient.

So, if I read the Assisted Hatching post right, I wait 24 hours to see if he can finish things on his own, and if there's no change then I widen the air hole until I can see the bill. Since ducks take longer should I wait longer?

 

[randerson846]

How long has he been going for? Is it 29 hours? , if nothing happening soon I would prepare to help, but as I said ducks can take up to 48 hours to hatch, and you don't want to rush it

 

[rey99]

I honestly don't know. I candled on the 25th and he hadn't pipped, then again on the 27 and he had. I waited 14ish hours between when I saw the internal pip before making the air hole. For all I know he could have pipped on the 26th. Ahhh!! I was trying to leave them alone but maybe I should have candled once a day?

Noon today will be 24 hours since I made the air hole.