- Mar 21, 2009
- 2,229
- 52
- 349
As much as I *know* from experience that duck eggs hatch better in incubators that roll the eggs, I highly doubt that was the problem. The OP didn't even say what type of incubator it was (did she? will have to go back and reread to make sure).
Despite some of the issues with SOME auto turners, large losses of chicks, dead-in-shell late in incubation is almost always an issue with the humidity (or a long or regular drop in temperature as well), not the turning. Auto turners do not result in mass losses of eggs. They simply don't. Not all auto turners are bad either. Some are awesome. Even those that tilt the eggs only result in a moderate reduction in hatch. When I have tested it, it has only affected hatch by about 15% (and I know somewhere Holderreads have mentioned it as well, but can't remember what percentage they said).
Also, 75% humidity for hatch of waterfowl is NOT too high. I cannot imagine that almost ever being a problem. As normal practice, I shoot for 85% at hatch and I have great hatches for the most part and I have hatched hundreds of eggs and used at least five different types of incubators over the years. It was most likely inadequate humidity or regular drops in temperature and/or humidity. Did you have a power outage? Did you open the incubator a lot? Did you open all the unhatched eggs to see if there were obvious issues?
I, personally, think there are probably multiple issues with Call eggs hatching, some of which may not even be directly related to incubation techniques per se. They may simply be less hardy little embryos because they have been bred over the years with a trait that impacts that. There are also well documented fertility issues with Calls and significantly reduced egg production over the other Mallard-derived breeds. That should tell us something.
Despite some of the issues with SOME auto turners, large losses of chicks, dead-in-shell late in incubation is almost always an issue with the humidity (or a long or regular drop in temperature as well), not the turning. Auto turners do not result in mass losses of eggs. They simply don't. Not all auto turners are bad either. Some are awesome. Even those that tilt the eggs only result in a moderate reduction in hatch. When I have tested it, it has only affected hatch by about 15% (and I know somewhere Holderreads have mentioned it as well, but can't remember what percentage they said).
Also, 75% humidity for hatch of waterfowl is NOT too high. I cannot imagine that almost ever being a problem. As normal practice, I shoot for 85% at hatch and I have great hatches for the most part and I have hatched hundreds of eggs and used at least five different types of incubators over the years. It was most likely inadequate humidity or regular drops in temperature and/or humidity. Did you have a power outage? Did you open the incubator a lot? Did you open all the unhatched eggs to see if there were obvious issues?
I, personally, think there are probably multiple issues with Call eggs hatching, some of which may not even be directly related to incubation techniques per se. They may simply be less hardy little embryos because they have been bred over the years with a trait that impacts that. There are also well documented fertility issues with Calls and significantly reduced egg production over the other Mallard-derived breeds. That should tell us something.
