Duck hatching question

[Jolapiana]

Good evening, I am new here so please forgive me if I post this in the wrong place. I am in the process of incubating duck eggs, for a friend, since mama duck abandoned the nest. I candles the eggs prior to setting in the incubator and it appear that 2 of the eggs were “occupied” while the others appeared empty. After 7 days I candled again and discovered the original 2 were dead but the others had begun to grow. That said, they SHOULD be going into lockdown on Sunday, which would be day 25. Earlier this evening, I opened the lid to let them cool, and remove the turner, and noticed an external pip. . I quickly closed the incubator and increased the humidity. I have extensive experience hatching Guinea fowl and pea fowl but never ducks! My temp is set at 99.5 and I usual do a dry incubate (although I keep humidity at about 25%) but increase to 65% for lockdown.

Do I keep the entire batch on lockdown? Will I have an issue with the ”early pipper”?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!

Thank you, so very much!

Jo Lapiana

 

[cheezenkwackers]

Good evening, I am new here so please forgive me if I post this in the wrong place. I am in the process of incubating duck eggs, for a friend, since mama duck abandoned the nest. I candles the eggs prior to setting in the incubator and it appear that 2 of the eggs were “occupied” while the others appeared empty. After 7 days I candled again and discovered the original 2 were dead but the others had begun to grow. That said, they SHOULD be going into lockdown on Sunday, which would be day 25. Earlier this evening, I opened the lid to let them cool, and remove the turner, and noticed an external pip. . I quickly closed the incubator and increased the humidity. I have extensive experience hatching Guinea fowl and pea fowl but never ducks! My temp is set at 99.5 and I usual do a dry incubate (although I keep humidity at about 25%) but increase to 65% for lockdown.

Do I keep the entire batch on lockdown? Will I have an issue with the ”early pipper”?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!

Thank you, so very much!

Jo Lapiana

Personally, I would increase the humidity and lock them all down. Be aware that ducklings are really slow hatchers. They often do not hatch until 24-48 hours after external pip. So, your baby could wait to hatch until day 27 and only be one day early.

 

[Jolapiana]

Personally, I would increase the humidity and lock them all down. Be aware that ducklings are really slow hatchers. They often do not hatch until 24-48 hours after external pip. So, your baby could wait to hatch until day 27 and only be one day early.

 

[Jolapiana]

Thank you, so much for the prompt reply! I was going to transfer all the eggs to another incubator for hatching but he put a crimp in my plans! I also didn’t get the opportunity to remove the turner, although I did shut it off earlier today.