Duck eggs soon to hatch?

[MGG]

Use pine shavings after they are 4 or 5 days old, they wont be very messy for the first few days anyway

And no problem! Weve all had our first hatches and iam sure its the same for @MGG we just remember being nervous too

My first hatch I basically lived in front of the incubator. I was constantly messing with something. Candling eggs, marking air cells, weighing eggs, cooling eggs, fussing and worrying over the eggs, reading on here about hatching eggs, making charts, buying anything I could ever possibly need for the chicks, etc. the list goes way on! I was a nervous wreck. I lost one chick. All of my other hatches have been 100 percent other than the occasional infertile egg or chick that fails to thrive. I cut out a ton of that stuff and my next hatch was better. I'm still nervous ever time but I've had really awesome success. Idk if it's luck or what, but out of my 23 different hatches over the summer, 20 of the 23 were 100 percent hatches. My usual batch size was 10-15 eggs, though against better judgement I put 29 guinea fowl eggs in that poor Janoel 12, and 26 hatched! It was SO cool. I'm still pretty excited for hatching day, but not as nutty and anxious.

 

[Texag87]

Hatching is so much fun. Last year we started with nine eggs that my mom had missed when the ducks were with her. 3 were not fertile. 5 of the remaining 6 hatched. Everything from candling the first couple weeks to seeing the eggs wobble after 21 days was exciting. As the big day approached I could not stay away from the incubator when I was home. On day 28 two hatched within a couple hours of me getting home and another at 3 am. The last two hatched in the afternoon while I was gone to work. From time to time I get the urge to do it again.

 

[Laurenfinn6]

You should keep them. They will have imprinted on you and probably won't make it in the wild. You'll become very attached do them. If you have too many drakes I'm sure you could see them, give them away, etc. I would keep a nice little flock personally. A good idea for less of a mess with the water is to put a cookie sheet with a cooling rack in it in the brooder and put the water on top of it. Or you can take a sour cream type of container and cut little holes, easily big enough for heads but not the whole body in the lid. Both of these things lessen the mess. I brooded mine in an outdoor portable pen. I left a big waterer in there and just moved the pen the the grass got matted down and yucky. No smell

I’m sure I will get very attached to them... I may end up keeping some because I just won’t be able to help it! What do you mean when you say if I have to many drakes? Is not good to have alot of them? I may the try the water thing too. Sounds crafty! Nice question... so the two eggs where I can see and hear the beak trying to tap out of the shell still have popped externally. I’m worried. Are their shells to hard? I thought they would have broke through by now.

 

[Laurenfinn6]

My first hatch I basically lived in front of the incubator. I was constantly messing with something. Candling eggs, marking air cells, weighing eggs, cooling eggs, fussing and worrying over the eggs, reading on here about hatching eggs, making charts, buying anything I could ever possibly need for the chicks, etc. the list goes way on! I was a nervous wreck. I lost one chick. All of my other hatches have been 100 percent other than the occasional infertile egg or chick that fails to thrive. I cut out a ton of that stuff and my next hatch was better. I'm still nervous ever time but I've had really awesome success. Idk if it's luck or what, but out of my 23 different hatches over the summer, 20 of the 23 were 100 percent hatches. My usual batch size was 10-15 eggs, though against better judgement I put 29 guinea fowl eggs in that poor Janoel 12, and 26 hatched! It was SO cool. I'm still pretty excited for hatching day, but not as nutty and anxious.

Wow it just such a. Great feeling to have so many successful hatches. Do you buy eggs on line? Do you keep all of the ducks you hatch? I’m getting more nervous as the count down gets closer.

 

[Laurenfinn6]

Hatching is so much fun. Last year we started with nine eggs that my mom had missed when the ducks were with her. 3 were not fertile. 5 of the remaining 6 hatched. Everything from candling the first couple weeks to seeing the eggs wobble after 21 days was exciting. As the big day approached I could not stay away from the incubator when I was home. On day 28 two hatched within a couple hours of me getting home and another at 3 am. The last two hatched in the afternoon while I was gone to work. From time to time I get the urge to do it again.

Sounds like a wonderful experience! It’s been so exciting and nerve wracking so far. Now I’m just waiting for them to hatchb

 

[MGG]

I’m sure I will get very attached to them... I may end up keeping some because I just won’t be able to help it! What do you mean when you say if I have to many drakes? Is not good to have alot of them? I may the try the water thing too. Sounds crafty! Nice question... so the two eggs where I can see and hear the beak trying to tap out of the shell still have popped externally. I’m worried. Are their shells to hard? I thought they would have broke through by now.

Well, too many drakes willoverbreed the hens. You can only have 1 drake per every 4 hens. So you will probably only be able to have one drake. Otherwise they start to get aggressive. If your humidity has been around 50-60 I'm sure they're fine. You can up it to around 70 if you want to. Just keep an eye on them. How long have those 2 been internally pipped?

 

[MGG]

Wow it just such a. Great feeling to have so many successful hatches. Do you buy eggs on line? Do you keep all of the ducks you hatch? I’m getting more nervous as the count down gets closer.

All of the duck eggs were given to me by a friend that has ducks. I don't have any ducks right now. We didn't have the means to keep them through the winter so I had to sell them all. Haha! Hatching is addictive!

 

[Laurenfinn6]

Well, too many drakes willoverbreed the hens. You can only have 1 drake per every 4 hens. So you will probably only be able to have one drake. Otherwise they start to get aggressive. If your humidity has been around 50-60 I'm sure they're fine. You can up it to around 70 if you want to. Just keep an eye on them. How long have those 2 been internally pipped?

The humidity is at 75. Is that too high? I’m not sure when they would have pipped to be honest. Yesterday was the first day I heard chirping and saw the beak/heard tapping. It’s been probably 10 hours since then.

 

[Laurenfinn6]

The humidity is at 75. Is that too high? I’m not sure when they would have pipped to be honest. Yesterday was the first day I heard chirping and saw the beak/heard tapping. It’s been probably 10 hours since then.

Actually L has externally pipped!

 

[Isaac 0]

Actually L has externally pipped!

Congrats!