Duck egg EXTERNALLY Pipped Day 24...

[Kholts]

Anyone had this happen?

I was candling eggs tonight (night of the 24th day) to put into lockdown tomorrow morning (day 25).

I had transferred the eggs to a carton to take to my closet (darkest room). I was candling & hearing pecking & peeps. Cool! As I was candling started noticing 3/4 of my hatch are internally pipped already.

I picked up my next egg & felt something....a bill..on the outside of the egg! WTH?

I oiled the exposed membrane & put it back in the incubator & cranked the humidity up.

Any theories? Eggs are from my own flock & collected daily. My ducks do not sit, they are the farthest thing from broody.

Thermometer was calibrated & has maintained the 99.5 except during cooling periods (around 1/2 hour) since day 10 & a power outage on day 18 that lasted 6 hours (I blanketed the incubator & did not open it that day).

I mist the eggs 2 times a day.

Fluke?

 

[JaeG]

Do you have anything that makes a rhythmic tapping near the incubator, or are they next to another incubator where anything else has recently hatched? Ducklings can actually speed up their metabolism, and so their development, to make sure they hatch in time to not be left behind. Pre hatch they start to make a tapping/clicking noise that is inaudible to us but it can travel through the incubator tray so even if the eggs aren't touching they can still sense each other preparing to hatch.

Here's a thread I started to share the article I'd found all about it and another member shared her experience of this phenomenon:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/really-interesting-article.1358854/

 

[Kholts]

Do you have anything that makes a rhythmic tapping near the incubator, or are they next to another incubator where anything else has recently hatched? Ducklings can actually speed up their metabolism, and so their development, to make sure they hatch in time to not be left behind. Pre hatch they start to make a tapping/clicking noise that is inaudible to us but it can travel through the incubator tray so even if the eggs aren't touching they can still sense each other preparing to hatch.

Here's a thread I started to share the article I'd found all about it and another member shared her experience of this phenomenon:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/really-interesting-article.1358854/

No it’s the only incubator I have. It’s in my daughters room. Could baby crying do it lol?

There was another guy on a FB group that recently had a recent hatch externally pip day 24 as well. Mother Nature this year? I don’t know.

 

[JaeG]

No it’s the only incubator I have. It’s in my daughters room. Could baby crying do it lol?

There was another guy on a FB group that recently had a recent hatch externally pip day 24 as well. Mother Nature this year? I don’t know.

I think we forget too that incubation periods are based on the average.

Enjoy those ducklings.

 

[Kholts]

I think we forget too that incubation periods are based on the average.

Enjoy those ducklings.

Oh I will!

I’ll post pics when they break free.

 

[Redemption]

"Thermometer was calibrated & has maintained the 99.5 except during cooling periods (around 1/2 hour) since day 10 & a power outage on day 18 that lasted 6 hours (I blanketed the incubator & did not open it that day)."

This might be a little long but hopefully it will help to support the point I am going to make. No incubator runs at a constant temp 24 hours a day. As little as 1/2 of a degree can result in an early hatch. You will have peaks and valleys for temp and humidity from the coldest part of the 24 hour cycle to the hottest, and from the dryest to the wettest. Because temp fluctuates its easier if you think about it in terms of the eggs internal temperature, your internal egg temperature will be whatever the average of those two numbers is. and that will affect average hatch time. This is the same theory at play when you wrapped it with a blanket during a power outage, this helped to keep the internal egg temperature high until the power came back on.

Do not, count purely on the incubators temperature indicator. They are ALL almost always off to some degree. Right now I run two Nurture right 360's and one converted wine refrigerator.

Nurture right 360 - I set mine high for duck. 100.0 That temp fluctuates between 99.0-100.8 but I would say that the average is probably closer to 99. 8 I am usually in lockdown at day 25 and hatched by day 26&27

Converted wine fridge - because this is a multi level setup I have the thermostat in the middle between the two trays. it is set to 100.0 but splits the difference between what would be optimal for the top and the bottom trays. The top tray tends to run warmer because.... well heat rises, the fan pushes some of it down and keeps it circulated but there is lag time between the heat up and mixing process. This results in about a .5 degree average difference between the two.

anyway if you want to get into the nerdy part of all of that, it allows me to cut some precious days off my cycle time. For the nay sayers my current successful hatch rate is 91.89% and I break most of the rules.

 

[Kholts]

"Thermometer was calibrated & has maintained the 99.5 except during cooling periods (around 1/2 hour) since day 10 & a power outage on day 18 that lasted 6 hours (I blanketed the incubator & did not open it that day)."

This might be a little long but hopefully it will help to support the point I am going to make. No incubator runs at a constant temp 24 hours a day. As little as 1/2 of a degree can result in an early hatch. You will have peaks and valleys for temp and humidity from the coldest part of the 24 hour cycle to the hottest, and from the dryest to the wettest. Because temp fluctuates its easier if you think about it in terms of the eggs internal temperature, your internal egg temperature will be whatever the average of those two numbers is. and that will affect average hatch time. This is the same theory at play when you wrapped it with a blanket during a power outage, this helped to keep the internal egg temperature high until the power came back on.

Do not, count purely on the incubators temperature indicator. They are ALL almost always off to some degree. Right now I run two Nurture right 360's and one converted wine refrigerator.

Nurture right 360 - I set mine high for duck. 100.0 That temp fluctuates between 99.0-100.8 but I would say that the average is probably closer to 99. 8 I am usually in lockdown at day 25 and hatched by day 26&27

Converted wine fridge - because this is a multi level setup I have the thermostat in the middle between the two trays. it is set to 100.0 but splits the difference between what would be optimal for the top and the bottom trays. The top tray tends to run warmer because.... well heat rises, the fan pushes some of it down and keeps it circulated but there is lag time between the heat up and mixing process. This results in about a .5 degree average difference between the two.

anyway if you want to get into the nerdy part of all of that, it allows me to cut some precious days off my cycle time. For the nay sayers my current successful hatch rate is 91.89% and I break most of the rules.

Good info. Definitely some food for thought.

I’m just running a little giant circulated air with auto turner. Pretty positive there’s temp fluctuations within the incubator but really my hatches have been successful (minus the 1st one, got kinks worked out since then) so I’m not too worried.

 

[Redemption]

Good info. Definitely some food for thought.

I’m just running a little giant circulated air with auto turner. Pretty positive there’s temp fluctuations within the incubator but really my hatches have been successful (minus the 1st one, got kinks worked out since then) so I’m not too worried.

Absolutely, afterall lets face it, at the end of the day until the contents of that egg comes out and survives its just an egg.

Nothing wrong with those little giant incubators. they are known to have some fluctuation, but until you spend a massive amount of money, they all do to some degree. I think the place that company really shines is their affordable auto turners. I might eventually wire up my self made incubator to use those will offer me more flexibility in what Im incubating and what im locking down.

 

[Kholts]

Day 26-

My externally pipped duckling made it out of its egg. Along with 3 others. A couple more eggs look pipped.

All the Ducklings look healthy. Peeping & moving around.