Duck eggs, Day 29, Thinking about panicing!

[NoseyChickens]

I had 10 runner duck eggs under my broody. She was doing such a great job .....for a week! And then we had this crazy weather pattern and it was FREEZING! (You know for California) So she got off her nest, more and more often in a 2 day period, I got nervous and took the eggs inside and put them in the incubator. They were cold to the touch, so I knew it was a long shot. 8 out of the 10 developed and were doing really well. I locked down this week. Yesterday was day 28. I have only been able to get my humidity to 85-88%

. From what I have read it needs to be a little higher. I KNOW in my sane realistic mind that due to them getting cold they could be delayed in hatching. In my panicy hatching addicted mind I am FREAKING the freak out! Should I candle? Should I sit back and try not to lose my mind?

BTW this is my first duck egg hatch. so please any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[NoseyChickens]

Well, still no activity. No rocking, no peeping. Should I candle? i am really worried about the humidity drop if I open the bator to take one out to candle, but I don't want to lose them either. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[SeaHen]

Okay, since no one has responded yet, I'll share my one experience incubating duck eggs.

Last summer I got a Welsh Harlequin drake off Craigslist to be a companion to my one-and-only Buff drake. The family I got the drake from talked me into also taking HIS friend, a Pekin duck. The duck came with a nest of 15 fertile eggs, and during the transition to her new surroundings on my property she abandoned them. Coincidentally, my home-made incubator was one week into her maiden voyage with several of my own hens' eggs, so I hastily constructed a second tier for the incubator and added the duck eggs to it. Two weeks later all the eggs started pipping, all on the same day! I had increased the humidity to about 65% for "lockdown," and unfortunately it was the cause of several ducklings and chicks dying in their shells.

Humidity of 85 to 88% sounds extremely high to me. Because of my babies drowning during the hatching process (and the rest having to be assisted to hatch), I will be using the "dry" method if I ever incubate eggs again.

I will probably get railed on for this too, but I opened the incubator almost daily to candle and turn the eggs with no ill effects. If you think about how it's done in nature, the duck usually gets off the nest for short periods of time, and even eggs that have been left in the cold for hours usually survive. I personally wouldn't hesitate to candle the eggs at this point, even though it goes against everything we've learned here

Good luck!!!

 

[NoseyChickens]

For Chicken eggs it is too high. I researched all over the place and this is what every site I have looked at is saying for duck eggs. For chicken eggs i don't really worry about humidity until lock down, then I bump it to 60% with really great results. But these are my first duck eggs, so I am a little worried.

Thank you for responding.

 

[SeaHen]

What type of incubator are you using? Most of the posts I'm finding on BYC indicate good results hatching duck eggs with humidity anywhere from 50% to 65%. Like I said, my own experience was that 65% was too high for both the chicks and ducklings. I'm trying to find my Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks! Have you made a decision about whether or not to candle??

 

[NoseyChickens]

It's a hovabator. I am going to give it until tomorrow. I knew they would be delayed because they were cold. Storey's says 92% at lockdown

 

[cracking up]

Duck eggs are tricky. I'm doing the same thing right now. My favorite Muscovy was snatched off of her eggs on the coldest day of the year. A lot of the eggs were developing but today it doesn't look good. I remember the last time I incubated duck eggs the one I was sure wasn't going to hatch was the first one that did. I'm always surprised by them - I'd give them a while.

I don't know when she even started sitting, I just know the eggs are full of duck.

I hope yours hatch, your ducks are beautiful.

 

[debilorrah]

Tricia!!! You are over here panicing too!!??

Leave em be - they got cold and are probably a couple days behind. Your humidity is fine. Knock it off.

 

[La Mike]

60 to 70 % humidity on the duck eggs is perfect 92% can drown your chicks or cause other issues
28 days is normal after a cooling and they started to develope they may not hatch until day 32
By the way Muscovy eggs take 32 to 36 days in my exp

 

[debilorrah]

Quote:
Yep - her humidity is at 85% and she lives in the same climate that I do, which makes me think her hygrometer is WAY off. I couldn't get mine to maintain 60% (calibrated to 76% too).

The runners I have in my isolation pen came from her, so I know they are gonna hatch.