Recent content by njchickenrookie

Glad to report that mystery is solved. I think it is humidity. Here are what I changed: 1 keep incubating humidity around 40 (in our area that means dry incubation). 2 manual turn 3-4 times per day. I seriously think duck egg wants to sit on the side. 3 keep egg level temperature at 99.5. 4...

i do not have a hydrometer. i was just using local atmosphere pressure to calculate / convert. yes i have three additional thermometers. they all stay within 1 degree of each other. i played with dry hatch b/f. works better earlier in the season (earlier spring) but not later in the season...

my turner (without turning on the incubator) is in a room of 60 F

i always start them on the same day. i collect eggs for a week. let cool egg sit on turner at room temperature so it gets property turned while waiting for enough eggs.

isn't it normal for first one to come out a tad earlier by a couple of days? i usually hatch a full incubator of eggs. 20-30 goes to lockdown.

broody muscovy moms do great. i have gotten 13 out of 15 once from her. it sounds like humidity issue. they start pipping at 25 days as well and first one usually come out at day 26. maybe i lower the temperature a bit to slow down development and give it more time for evaporation?

my chicken hatching rate is not too great either. i tried try hatch / more humidity / less humidity ... not much difference. it is rather random it seems. random on the bad side.

the girls are on Dumor layer feed from tractor supplies, same as my chicken eggtopsies always showed well developed ducklings as big as those hatched successfully, and pretty absorbed egg. most of time no blood or fluid. just a stuck bird

kiki, that I do know. i have been experimenting with various combinations. still yet to find a winning formula after 5-6 years for chicks i can get maybe 50%. ducks ... MISERABLE

i will try 30-ish next time which basically means no water added ...

I am in NJ, and the egg was from my own backyard flock. WH and Applyard were from Holderread stock. Humidity is just what I read out of the incubator as well as from the hydrometer from incubator warehouse. Air pressure here is about 30 psi which means you add 20 to the reading for wet bulb...

I have tried to hatch duck eggs for 3 years with Genesis 1588. First 24 days at 50-60 humidity, 99.5 degree and last four days at 80-85 humidity and same temperature. Every time, embryos developed well and usually <10% eggs not fertilized. Yet I typically only get 10-20% of hatch rate. Well...

it turned out to be an owl. i saw it 3 am in the morning. time to reinforce the netting

i saw some pretty large black crows around. wonder whether that could be the murderer.

fence around and also net on top. there is a gap in the netting but if it is a bird it has to make several turns to get in and out. the duckling is not tiny. 1.5-2 lb. hard to carry away by a bird while taking off the ground.