Duck incubation questions: lockdown, humidity and what happens if they hatch and I’m not there?

[LtDanFan]

here’s the scenario: on the evening of June 12th I put 21 duck eggs in the incubator after sitting at room temp for a little over a day. Shipped to me from about 2 states away. I am using Brinsea ovation EX that holds 21 eggs. Eggs are currently in goose-egg trays and on their sides.
Removed a total of 8 of them between now and then for being either infertile or not developing, so i have 13 left.
Last week, i noticed the humidity was around 43% and would not go higher regardless of the setting i used. Yesterday, i figured out that the cord was in the way of the lid and i fixed it and now humidity is at 60% and holding. Temp has remained 99.8-101.4F the whole time, at least every time i or my Petsitter visiting the house has checked on them.
After calculating a 28 day hatch date, i expect them to hatch on July 10th (give or take 24-36 hours, as I understand what I’ve been reading). The are a mix of Ancona, blue Swedish and saxony ducks. Not sure which are which until they hatch as the remaining eggs are unmarked except for 1 which is “BSM”. We are currently living in a hotel 20 min from the house due to some unplanned repairs which makes the house unlivable at the moment.
Due to work and other scheduling demands, i may not be able to visit the house between tomorrow and the morning of the 11th, but i am here today.
Here are my questions:
1. Does the 3-4 days or so of 40-something percent humidity affect development or hatching complications?
2. Can i put them in lockdown today and still be ok? Even though its a day or 2 earlier than normal?
3. Should i change the humidity setting any further now before hatching?
4. Will they likely be ok if i leave them until the morning of the 11th? I work overnights and spend 13-14 hours at work, leaving not a ton of time to sleep, because i sleep poorly anyway, i am reluctant to further deprive myself on purpose but will do so absolutely if i need to address anything on the advice of people here with more experience in this than i have. its my first duck egg hatching adventure.
This is probably best reserved for a later post, but any hints on telling which ducklings are which at hatch would be helpful too, since the eggs are unmarked lol.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Susan Skylark]

Chicks can stay in the incubator for 72 hours, I would think your ducks would be fine. The humidity drop shouldn’t hurt much, not sure what duck lockdown humidity is, quail is 65% but mine runs 85%, ugh, but it will also jump as ducks hatch. Unless you have an onion bag or a spare incubator telling who came from where is going to be hard and as you won’t be around to monitor probably not a great idea to leave unsupervised with netting material they might get tangled up in. They can go into lockdown a couple days early too with no issues. Enjoy!

 

[NatJ]

Probably too late to do for this hatch, but if you have a similar situation in future: maybe set up a camera that you can check remotely. That could give you some idea of when the first ones hatch (so you know how long they're in the incubator before you come get them out), and might also give you some idea of which ducklings come from which eggs, depending on how good of a view it gets.

 

[LtDanFan]

Probably too late to do for this hatch, but if you have a similar situation in future: maybe set up a camera that you can check remotely. That could give you some idea of when the first ones hatch (so you know how long they're in the incubator before you come get them out), and might also give you some idea of which ducklings come from which eggs, depending on how good of a view it gets.

Actually, i did that. I can go over after work in the morning if need be and i sure will if there looks to be a problem but considering that i work a 12 hour shift, so am gone 13-14 hours with rounds and travel time, if something happens in the middle of the night i won’t be able to do anything. Im not so much worried as who comes from what egg because only 1 is labeled so i will have to just ID them from their duckling markings or wait until they mature and i can sex them at the same time.

 

[LtDanFan]

On a related note, i discovered that the Brinsea incubator i am using (Ovation EX 28) is missing pieces and there are no covers for the humidity troughs. So, seeing as how i am not going to be in the same building as the eggs when they likely hatch out, i bought a chick cozy incubator to hatch them out in because they would not all fit into my Brinsea Mini. The only problem is that the temp on the chick cozy does not seem reliable. The little thermometer i have inside is saying a temp of 98.7 and the temp on the incubator is set on 101. I am afraid to turn it up any more, but when i came in after letting it sit on for 16 hours, the inside thermometer read 97.2 and the temp on the incubator was set to 100.0. How much can I trust these temps and is there enough problem to be a problem? Knowing that neither is ideal, If i have to err on the side of high or low, which is less harmful? I understand science and that life often finds a way, so i know that one is less bad than another within tolerance, i just don’t know which.

 

[SnackMeat]

Duck eggs should be incubated at a lower humidity level than chicken eggs.

I have had rotten luck with dry hatching chicken eggs but would 100% do a dry hatch for duck eggs based on what I have seen.

While this writeup is for Muscovy, it applies to other eggs as well. Weighing eggs beforehand takes a lot of the guesswork out.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/incubating-and-hatching-muscovy-eggs.63532/

 

[SnackMeat]

Also to answer your question, your incubator has moving air so I believe that can be set to 100.5* however, incubators often have unreliable thermometers. I have a cheap incubator set to 104.5 and the eggs depending on the outside or inside right measure between 97-100.5* so I rotate their placement in the Incubator to even this out.

 

[LtDanFan]

Update: yesterday was officially day 28 and as of yesterday night, i had 7 out of 13 eggs hatch out. Because i work this weekend 8a-8p and will not likely be able to stop by until Monday, i made air holes in the remaining egg over the air cells. Then because i didn’t see movement or hear chirping, i opened one just to see what was going on. The duckling looked pretty well developed, but its beak was still buried under its wing and its head was kind of swollen. There was no indication of internal pipping. The yolk had not been absorbed either. I guess it died a day or two ago, so maybe i should have intervened sooner but who knows. The other eggs all hatched between 1 day early to right on time, with pipping happening starting at day 26.
So, I understand that shipped eggs have dismal hatch rates but if the remaining eggs are indeed dead, that means i have gotten a 33% hatch rate and all 7 ducklings that lived come from 2 of the three breeds i purchased. So bummer on multiple levels.
Given that it’s day 28 and most hatched and least pipped early, how long should i wait before giving up on these babies? I would peel the shells off today but if there’s a chance that they may still hatch out i will wait. Either way, they are technically surplus because i already have 7 hens in the yard and 7 ducklings in the brooder but i hate to think of any living thing as “surplus” and want to do what i can for them.
Hopefully, i didn’t mess things up by creating airholes but i wanted to err on the side of caution in case they pip but i cannot be here to help them if needed.

 

[NatJ]

Given that it’s day 28 and most hatched and least pipped early, how long should i wait before giving up on these babies? I would peel the shells off today but if there’s a chance that they may still hatch out i will wait.

Because i work this weekend 8a-8p and will not likely be able to stop by until Monday

If they are going to hatch at all, I think they will probably do it by Monday. So I would probably leave them until then.

I would peel the shells off today but if there’s a chance that they may still hatch out i will wait.

If they are already dead, you could peel the shell off and it would not change anything. That would satisfy your curiosity about their condition, and you would not spend the weekend wondering.

If they are alive but not ready to hatch yet (example: unabsorbed yolk), then they will have a better chance if you just leave them alone.

If you do not know whether they are alive or dead, I would probably wait until Monday, then check again and consider what to do next.

all 7 ducklings that lived come from 2 of the three breeds i purchased.

Sometimes one breed will hatch later than another breed. I would give them a bit longer and see what happens.

 

[LtDanFan]

If they are going to hatch at all, I think they will probably do it by Monday. So I would probably leave them until then.


If they are already dead, you could peel the shell off and it would not change anything. That would satisfy your curiosity about their condition, and you would not spend the weekend wondering.

If they are alive but not ready to hatch yet (example: unabsorbed yolk), then they will have a better chance if you just leave them alone.

If you do not know whether they are alive or dead, I would probably wait until Monday, then check again and consider what to do next.


Sometimes one breed will hatch later than another breed. I would give them a bit longer and see what happens.

That’s what i was thinking but it helps to have validation. In my mind, I’ve done all i can do by providing airholes and the rest is up to them. I’m willing to give them through the weekend given my schedule.
In the meantime i will fawn over the babies that did survive and be glad for that. Hopefully they are not all drakelets!! Haha. Just my luck.