I'm pretty new to hatching duck eggs. My first 12 eggs all looked great...all developed, but only 8 hatched. The first 4 ducklings pipped and zipped within 48 hours of the "expected" hatch date. The last 4 pipped and zipped on day 3 & 4 AFTER their expected hatch date. I thought 8 out of twelve eggs was pretty good, although disappointed it wasn't a better percentage.
Second batch of 8 eggs, due last Friday. Two eggs pipped, and got about a dime sized hole in the eggs. Two other eggs pipped and zipped out fairly quickly. Monday, after waiting 3 days for the first two eggs to finish zipping, I decided to "help". I started to pick away at the shells, which were extremely brittle, probably a bit dry, even with my humidity at 60-65%. Inner egg lining was not dry, no bleeding, so I got the eggs about 90% open and let the babies fall out. Both stayed rolled up in their little pre-hatching position. I thought that as they dried and stretched out they would be OK. Yesterday when I got home, both were dry, but their necks were still all twisted around and they were flopping all over the place on their backs. I had to straighten out their necks to give them both a drink of water, but as soon as I let go, thier heads twisted back up. They would never make it, so I decided to cull. I'm pretty disappointed that I only got 2 out of 8 eggs.
I don't know if I had "helped" the first eggs out a bit earlier, instead of waiting 3 additional days, if the outcome would have been better or not. Live and learn. I haven't had the stomach to open up the unhatched ones, to see what's inside. Although, I wish I knew why more of them don't make it out of the shell.
I have another 6 duck eggs scheduled to hatch on 4/25. We'll see how that goes.
*hug*
