Eggs were stored for a week before incubating

[RunnerDucks1221]

Hi there, I am new to incubating duck eggs (I did it once before and was able to hatch three beautiful runner ducks) this is my second time doing it. I bought runner duck eggs from a farm (they told me the eggs were sitting out for a week in room temperature and told me to incubate right away). I got home and incubated them right away (37.5C for temp and humidity at 55%). I am worried that the fertility rate of the eggs has decreased significantly since they were sitting out without the incubator for a week from being laid. Also, the first night they were incubated the humidity dropped to 35% in the middle of the night for about 2.5 hours (my incubator beeped and beeped but i didnt wake up until afterwards). What are everyones thoughts? I fixed the humidity back to increase to 55% INSTANTLY after i noticed it was dropped. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Susan Skylark]

Don’t worry about minor humidity fluctuations, aim for an average. Older eggs have a slightly decreased hatch rate at a week, after 10 days things get much worse. I intentionally left quail eggs sit 2-3 weeks and incubated until day 9, development was great but I did not take to hatch, you’ll probably see good development but a higher dead embryo rate, at a week it probably will be only a slight increase but after 10 days I’d expect double digit decrease in hatch percentage. You’ll get duckling (assuming good incubation and fertility) just a few more quitters than usual.

 

[Pearlescent]

I’ve never hatched ducks, but just this spring I had Turkey eggs sitting for two weeks before incubating, and I had 11/11 hatch under my broody.

I also had 8 six week old ones, that are at around day 15-20 now, and I only had 1 bad out of all those so far.

 

[RunnerDucks1221]

I’ve never hatched ducks, but just this spring I had Turkey eggs sitting for two weeks before incubating, and I had 11/11 hatch under my broody.

I also had 8 six week old ones, that are at around day 15-20 now, and I only had 1 bad out of all those so far.

Oh wow, 11/11 thats great! Okay thankyou so much! I will keep hoping that they will be good eggs!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I am worried that the fertility rate of the eggs has decreased significantly since they were sitting out without the incubator for a week from being laid.

You may have noticed that there are a lot of wild ducks in nature. Practically all of them were hatched with no help from humans. Many of those wild ducks hatched from eggs that were laid well over a week before the duck hen started incubating them, some as much as two weeks. The same is true for feral chickens, turkeys, geese, and others. The hen lays an egg and then disappears until she is ready to lay the next egg. She is not there incubating them or turning them. A lot of those eggs hatch.

You are not a wild duck and your storage conditions were different form a nest on the ground. You are unlikely to get the same results as a wild duck if you wait two weeks to start incubating them unless you take special precautions. But many of us store eggs for a week at room temperature with no special humidity and get excellent hatches. I don't know how many you will get to hatch, you may get 100% or a horrible rate. But if it is bad it is because of something other than you waited a week before incubation started.

Also, the first night they were incubated the humidity dropped to 35% in the middle of the night for about 2.5 hours (my incubator beeped and beeped but i didnt wake up until afterwards). What are everyones thoughts?

The reason we control humidity is to manage the amount of moisture lost over the entire time period. Instantaneous humidity isn't the issue, it is an average over the entire time. Compared to the total time they will be incubated 2.5 hours is irrelevant. That kind of thing is very common in incubation. Nature was kind enough to give us a wide range of moisture loss that will work. It does not need to be that precise but it does need to be in that range. Just do the best you can and let us know how it turns out.

Good luck!