Desperately looking to speak with someone knowledgeable in incubating Muscovy eggs!

AmyA248

Songster
Jun 20, 2022
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Happy Sunday to all.

From what I’ve been reading, it is nearly impossible to incubate Muscovy eggs. I currently have 5 eggs at 3 different ages. 2 at 13 days old, 2 at 11 days old and 1 at 9 days old.
I’m a complete novice, I’ve only incubated abandoned Wood Duck eggs last summer with was a success. But as far as Muscovy’s go it’s a whole different story.
I have a forced air incubator with a vent. At first I read humidity is most important and not to open the vent. Then I read a VERY informative article stating to open the vent due to potential carbon monoxide poisoning.
I’ve read yes to misting and cooling once a day, but others say no. I’m completely LOST!
So far the eggs look great and the older ones are moving, but moving forward I am scared that I’m going to do something wrong.
This is our female’s first clutch and we want nothing more then to add to their family.
We got mom and dad at 3 days old and hand raised them with tons of love.
That being said I’m desperate for the RIGHT advice, as I find myself worried about the eggs constantly.
My little girl has already named them and videos their development and movements. She’s too young to understand that they likely won’t make it even though I’ve carefully tried to explain it to her, so please, if anyone has successfully incubated and had a successful hatch with Muscovy’s, I’d be forever grateful for anything advice you could give me, as everything I read is different and contradictory.

Thank you in advance.

Blessings,
Amy
 
Hi there, I hatch lots of Muscovy ducklings, and I have found it's best to run with open vents and no more than 45% humidity.

What incubator do you have?

Have you seen this article?
Incubating And Hatching Muscovy Eggs

Incubating And Hatching Muscovy Eggs

Please note: I don't always get notified when there is a comment to the articles that I have posted.. so if you have a question and I don't get back to you here... just drop me a PM * ~ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ~ * This is my basic guide for the Incubation and Hatching of Muscovy Eggs All ducklings...
 
I have done one batch of Muscoviy eggs. All that were started (mom sat 3 days and then was taken by a fox) hatched. I received advice on BYC to just hatch them like chickens with a few extra days (35-37). I do dry hatches due to our high relative humidity. I think the incubator runs between 35-45 percent and I put the incubator up to 65 percent for lockdown Pip to zip took extra time as well, but it was successful. I think sometimes people hatch ducks with a higher humidity, but that doesn't work well with muskovy eggs.
 
You’re going to want to look into “staggered incubation” or “staggered hatching.” It can be a bit tricky when instead of holding all the eggs at room temp and starting incubation at the same time you do them in staggered batches in the same incubator 😬. I am not the expert you’re looking for, but I’ve read from people hatching chicken eggs that this can be tricky
 
It sounds like your eggs might be 4 days apart for hatching. If you do not have a separate hatch incubator I would suggest waiting until you see an internal pip and then go into lockdown. You will need to remove ducklings after they dry. Just be quick so the humidity doesn't stay low
 
I have done one batch of Muscoviy eggs. All that were started (mom sat 3 days and then was taken by a fox) hatched. I received advice on BYC to just hatch them like chickens with a few extra days (35-37). I do dry hatches due to our high relative humidity. I think the incubator runs between 35-45 percent and I put the incubator up to 65 percent for lockdown Pip to zip took extra time as well, but it was successful. I think sometimes people hatch ducks with a higher humidity, but that doesn't work well with muskovy eggs.
Thank you so much for your reply! Our humidity is very low, we are in Connecticut and it’s so dry!
I’m so sorry you lost your female, we lost one of our 2 females to a hawk over the summer right in front of me! It broke my heart!
Our female has been laying since January 23rd! So I currently have eggs of 4 different ages right now. She just laid another this morning!! I had no idea it takes this long to lay a clutch. I had no choice then to take them because she wasn’t sitting and it’s simply too cold even though when it gets below 35 degrees we bring them to their heated shed.
I’m going to have to purchase another incubator due to the differences in lock down times. If they survive to that point.
We are just praying that a few will make it, and I’m going to be a nervous wreck for another month and more! 😊

Thank you again.
Kindly,
Amy
 
Hi there, I hatch lots of Muscovy ducklings, and I have found it's best to run with open vents and no more than 45% humidity.

What incubator do you have?

Have you seen this article?
Incubating And Hatching Muscovy Eggs

Incubating And Hatching Muscovy Eggs

Please note: I don't always get notified when there is a comment to the articles that I have posted.. so if you have a question and I don't get back to you here... just drop me a PM * ~ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ~ * This is my basic guide for the Incubation and Hatching of Muscovy Eggs All ducklings...
Hi!

That’s wonderful to hear you’ve had good luck hatching Muscovy’s! Sadly I’m failing at it and I’m reading everything I can find!
I think my incubator is faulty, as I have to CONSTANTLY regulate the humidity to keep it at 45. I add water, I take out water, I cover the water holes, I uncover the water holes, I even set my alarm to wake up every 3 hours during the night to keep the humidity correct. 😩
The temperature goes between 37.6 - 37.8 C. It will NOT stay persistent no matter how I calibrate it.
My female has been laying since January 23rd and is STILL laying. She never went broody and drops her eggs everywhere.
All have been fertilized so I feel that I MUST try to save them. But I cannot figure out why I cannot get an egg past day 15.
But, as of last night I have a 17 day old and a 15 day old that are very active. I’m literally holding my breath and terrified to candle them again!
I currently have 8 eggs, all different ages, so I think I’m going to have to purchase another incubator just in case a miracle happens and we make it to lockdown with at least ONE! 🥰
We love our ducks very much and really want to add to their family, but I feel like such a failure because I can’t seem to keep them alive.
Both myself and my 9 year old daughter get so upset when we lose a developing baby, but I just can’t bring myself to stop trying.

Do you have any idea what I’m doing wrong?
Does it make a difference that this is her first clutch and she’s only 9 months old?
Should I be cooling and misting every day?
I’ve read so many articles that contradict one another, so I’m so confused as to what’s really the right thing to do! 🤔

Last summer I had to rescue 5 Wood duck eggs from my yard, sadly the mother was killed by a fox. And they all hatched. They were about a week old when I started incubating. So due to having no problems with them I thought it would be similar with Muscovy’s, but wow, I couldn’t have been more wrong!

I’m including some photos from last night. As you can see, they are all at a different stage of development.
The few with no veining are are 4, 3, 2 and 1 day old. And I can’t tell if they are fertilized yet. If you can tell, please let me know if you don’t mind. 😊
The most developed ones are at day 18 and day 16 as of today.

Thank you again and have a blessed day!
 

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Here’s my incubator. 😊
Hi there, I hatch lots of Muscovy ducklings, and I have found it's best to run with open vents and no more than 45% humidity.

What incubator do you have?

Have you seen this article?
Incubating And Hatching Muscovy Eggs

Incubating And Hatching Muscovy Eggs

Please note: I don't always get notified when there is a comment to the articles that I have posted.. so if you have a question and I don't get back to you here... just drop me a PM * ~ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ~ * This is my basic guide for the Incubation and Hatching of Muscovy Eggs All ducklings...
Hi,
I forgot to post a picture of my incubator. 😊
I would not recommend this model to anyone.
 

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