Bacteria in duck eggs.. advice?

[Kinderteachermom]

Hi!
As part of my kindergarten program, we incubate and hatch chickens each year. I’ve been doing it for 8 years and it has been very successful with good hatch rates.

3 years ago the store we get the eggs from accidentally gave us duck eggs and we didn’t know until we candled them at day 23 wondering why they weren’t hatching!

Anyway we had 8/12 hatch easily and healthy. We decided to continue hatching ducks each year. The next year two of the ducks fully developed but didn’t hatch. I believe they got bacteria or an infection in them because they were bubbling yellowish stuff from the egg.

This year, we were SO cautious to not introduce bacteria to the incubator: Using new gloves each time we dipped them or candled them and Sanitizing the bowls after dipping. But, we had 3 ducks struggling to hatch. One ended up hatching with his umbilical and yolk sack still attached. It’s been over 24 hours, and he’s doing okay, now. Another started oozing frothy, green goo after attempting to hatch for over 48 hours. I helped him out and the egg was filled with the green goo. His umbilical was sticking out as well and looked infected. He passed away after just a few hours.

We do have very old incubators that don’t have temp or humidity readers, so I am working on getting funding for new ones for next year.

Sorry for the long post!

Cliff notes: thinking I have a humidity or bacteria issue with my duck eggs causing low hatch rate. Any advice? Thank you so much!

I’ve attached photos of the duck that hatched with yolk sack attached and is doing well now in the second two pictures with his healthy friends.

 

[Kinderteachermom]

 

[SilverBirds]

What do you mean by dipping them?

 

[Kinderteachermom]

What do you mean by dipping them?

The store we get them from advises to dip them in very warm water 3 times a week while incubating from a certain day (i can’t exactly remember what day it says to start. The directions are at my school right now) to day 25.

 

[SilverBirds]

The store we get them from advises to dip them in very warm water 3 times a week while incubating from a certain day (i can’t exactly remember what day it says to start. The directions are at my school right now) to day 25.

Some people do a misting and cooling of the eggs but I've never heard of people full blown dipping the eggs in water. This is likely the reason you are getting bad hatch rates. The water is probably rubbing off the protective layer of bloom that protects the eggs from bacteria. Water is also seeping through the pores of the egg which is where all the liquid inside the egg is coming from. I'd cease doing this.

This is my speculation. I'd also wait for the opinion of a more experienced person then me.

 

[Kinderteachermom]

Some people do a misting and cooling of the eggs but I've never heard of people full blown dipping the eggs in water. This is likely the reason you are getting bad hatch rates. The water is probably rubbing off the protective layer of bloom that protects the eggs from bacteria. Water is also seeping through the pores of the egg which is where all the liquid inside the egg is coming from. I'd cease doing this.

This is my speculation. I'd also wait for the opinion of a more experienced person then me.

Wow! Thank you for the advise. Now that I compare the first year to the past two it makes sense. We never dipped the first year because we thought they were chicken eggs!

 

[Justso]

Some people do a misting and cooling of the eggs but I've never heard of people full blown dipping the eggs in water. This is likely the reason you are getting bad hatch rates. The water is probably rubbing off the protective layer of bloom that protects the eggs from bacteria. Water is also seeping through the pores of the egg which is where all the liquid inside the egg is coming from. I'd cease doing this.

This is my speculation. I'd also wait for the opinion of a more experienced person then me.

X2
No dipping