Duck eggs day 26 Swedish ducks

[babybluegurl22]

so im trying to hatch duck eggs in a forced air incubator and its day 26. i didnt know there was so much care for duck eggs and the more i read i noticed i didnt do most of the things. anyways its day 26 which i have said and they suppose to hatch in 2 days but when i candle them there is alot of room in the bottom probably about as much room as in the top of the egg any advice? will they hatch. my humidity is around 55 right now should it be raised the next couple days? its making me sad because i would hate for them to die. right now i have movement in all my eggs.

 

[babybluegurl22]

can someone answer please?

 

[Orca5094]

It's normal for there to be some empty space at the bottom of the egg as well, right up until they move into hatch position. So, no worries there!

Not sure how much else you have already found out, but here's a few basics: Ducks do need pretty high humidity when they hatch, so I would try to raise that up a bit more if you can. They should also be in "lockdown" now, so no more opening of the incubator, turning of the eggs, or candling. They need this time to get into hatch position and if they are moved now it could mess them up and make it harder for them to hatch properly. Do you have to open the incubator to add water? If so, add as much as you can now so you don't have to open in more than absolutely necessary. You don't want to open the incubator the last few days before hatch because it will drop your humidity very fast. This can cause their membranes to dry out and stick to the ducklings during the hatching process, which will prevent them from being able to hatch. This is much more of a danger once they have externally pipped, though.

Good luck with your hatch! Make sure to let us know how it goes!

 

[babybluegurl22]

i have the humidity at 63 is that good for them? i took them out of the turner last night. today is day 27 so i dont want to mess them up.

 

[Amiga]

Sometimes it will take more than the general 28 days. I am not a hatcher, but there are a couple of stickies on hatching, and @Lacrystol is someone who helps with hatching quite a bit, perhaps you can search the archives for some of the threads where she has helped. I will see if I can find some.

Here is one

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/861428/no-hatching-progress-24-hours-temperature-problem

 

[Lacrystol]

There shouldn't be any empty space at the bottom. Sounds like you have a sticky issue.

 

[Lacrystol]

Have you sprayed or misted them at all during the process. They should have been sprayed at least once a day during the winter months and more often during the summer months. Can you describe the space does it look absolutely clear or a slight yellowness to it. Not yellow like if you were looking at yolk.

My guess is slight yellow which is thick thick gooy stuff. Not what you want inside that shell.

63 is good but should have been lowered before this point.

Your larger end should be slightly higher but this needs to be done 4 days before hatchig so that yo can avoid upside downers.

Do you hand turn them or place them on a turner with large end up? They can be placed on a turner as long as they are laying down. What I do is tape mine.

Let me know where the temp is.

 

[babybluegurl22]

Well the humidity was at 50-55 not recently raised it. No I didn't spray them at all and that's what I'm worries about but it's to late now. And the last time I looked the botton of the egg I believe was clear but I'm not for sure. The temp is at 37.5 c

 

[Lacrystol]

Well the humidity was at 50-55 not recently raised it. No I didn't spray them at all and that's what I'm worries about but it's to late now. And the last time I looked the botton of the egg I believe was clear but I'm not for sure. The temp is at 37.5 c

Sounds like they have a lot of gooy stuff, what happens is that gooy stuff confines them and basically stops them from growing and adventurally suffocates them, sometimes though you can get really lucky and they manage to make an external crack, then you can help them out, this takes lots of time and a lot of cleaning. Because you have to wipe all that gooy stuff off and get it out of that shell the tricky part is not to intervene until at least they are passed there due date.

So once they are past there due date check them, look for movements, if they are still moving, make them a safe hole and will see if we can get one out ok. It's going to be a long long process, lots of patiences and long sleepless nights.

If they are not moving, open them up, you'll know exactly what I mean by thick gooy stuff.

You really can't do much until after the due date, I have tried an experiment on gooy eggs and was unsuccessful, so someone took my idea and changed it a little and it worked for her. So this experiement that has been attempted is not a guarantee, until we can get it down successfully all the time..

We shall come up with a solution for helping gooy, sticky babies out successfully..

 

[Lacrystol]

Try to send me a picture of one of the eggs during candling if you can..