Doulbe Yolks and Newbie Incubator

[SliperyDuck]

Hi im a very new Duck egg breeder and have had a total nightmare with my first attempt at hatching some eggs.

I have a Janoel 12 incubator which is relative to this post but have also purchased a Janoel 24 now

So I purchased 6 eggs from ebay Uk Welsh Harlequins they arrived 1 day after payment and were allowed to sit for 24 hours before going in incubator

Incubator set at 38c Temp humidy 45% to 55% I have a separate digital Humidity and temperature gauge inside to make sure settings were correct

I have never candled eggs before and only did so at 10 days eggs had no veins and didn't really know what i was looking for so left them in there were no spots only what i thought were i had 2 shadows in a couple of eggs that i could make out

So did a bit of research and came to the conclusion these were double yolks and as a result useless?

long story short i had no veins or any other indicator as to weather the eggs were incubating or dead so decided at day forteen to crack them open, every egg was a double yolk and basically just looked like normal eggs with double yolks no smell no blood nothing.

so my questions are

Were the Eggs bad before i put them in the incubator?

Did i do anything wrong?

I have ordered 6 More Welsh Harlequins from the same supplier and have candled them before putting them in my Janoel 24 Temp 37.5 Humidity 60%

2 look like double yolks so four look ok they have gone in today I have put all 6 in , also i have ordered 6 Ayelesbury duck eggs from a different supplier and should have them Tuesday i will put them in the Janoel 24 as well is that ok? my thoughts were I can put the Harlequins into lock down in my Janoel 12 any advice would be great on this

SD

 

[Miss Lydia]

Hi im a very new Duck egg breeder and have had a total nightmare with my first attempt at hatching some eggs.

I have a Janoel 12 incubator which is relative to this post but have also purchased a Janoel 24 now

So I purchased 6 eggs from ebay Uk Welsh Harlequins they arrived 1 day after payment and were allowed to sit for 24 hours before going in incubator

Incubator set at 38c Temp humidy 45% to 55% I have a separate digital Humidity and temperature gauge inside to make sure settings were correct

I have never candled eggs before and only did so at 10 days eggs had no veins and didn't really know what i was looking for so left them in there were no spots only what i thought were i had 2 shadows in a couple of eggs that i could make out

So did a bit of research and came to the conclusion these were double yolks and as a result useless?

long story short i had no veins or any other indicator as to weather the eggs were incubating or dead so decided at day forteen to crack them open, every egg was a double yolk and basically just looked like normal eggs with double yolks no smell no blood nothing.

so my questions are

Were the Eggs bad before i put them in the incubator?

Did i do anything wrong?

I have ordered 6 More Welsh Harlequins from the same supplier and have candled them before putting them in my Janoel 24 Temp 37.5 Humidity 60%

2 look like double yolks so four look ok they have gone in today I have put all 6 in , also i have ordered 6 Ayelesbury duck eggs from a different supplier and should have them Tuesday i will put them in the Janoel 24 as well is that ok? my thoughts were I can put the Harlequins into lock down in my Janoel 12 any advice would be great on this

SD

@SliperyDuck Welcome to BYC.

Since I do it the old fashion way and let my ducks be the incubator i will tag some that can help you.


@WVduckchick

 

[AustralorpsAU]

It sounds as if the eggs were not fertile in the first place. Even if temps and what not were off you some still should have developed! Double yolkers are extremely difficult to hatch... I just can't believe every single one was! I would complain to seller

 

[WVduckchick]

Did you ask the seller if double yolks were common for her? And for all to be infertile sounds odd also, but possible.

As far as the incubation, do your incubators have fans? If not, you may want to bump up the temp about one degree.
50-60% humidity is very high. I usually start around 30% and watch the air cells. I'll post a pic of how they should grow (I'm on mobile, pics are sometimes a pain so they will follow this post). You can add humidity later if the air cells are growing too large, it's harder to take water out to decrease it after you've started. Candle at day 6 or 7, you should definitely see veins by then (unless the shells are dark or super thick)

 

[WVduckchick]

 

[WVduckchick]

 

[WVduckchick]

That last pic is for chickens, so the days don't match up for ducks but the progression is similar.

 

[WVduckchick]

This is a duck egg.

 

[WVduckchick]

Found another

 

[SliperyDuck]

Thanks for the replies so far especially WVduckchick really appreciate it

As for the incubator im using it is fully automatic with fan and auto turning all working fine

The settings im using were from the link below

http://www.duckhealth.com/hatcduck.html

I have just literally read that 40% is optimal so thats supports WVduckchicks 30% will let my water evaporate until it drops to 30 % or do you advise removing some water to hit 30%?

what day do you advise to up the humidity?

Will post pics of the candling at day 7 for your perusal

Thanks again for all the help and look forward to all and any advice

SD