First day candling...is there still a good chance i'll have a hatch??

[kikidee]

Hello everyone

This is my first attempt to hatch, and probably will be my only one if any of my eggs make it because I'm really only hatching to keep 2 ducks as pets.
I ordered 10 Cayuga duck eggs from Metzer Farms online and they shipped me 11 (one extra). I just candled today, day 7, and 7 of the 11 were fertile and I could see movement (it looked like a heart beat?). 3 were just plain infertile and one had a blood ring. How does the duckling die so soon with the blood ring? Did I do something to kill it?

Also, This is barely the end of week 1 and I've already lost 4 eggs due to infertility/ blood ring. Do you think I'll get at least some to hatch?

-kikidee

 

[cmom]

Not to worry. I'm sure this has happened to most people to hatch. As long as your temperature and humidity stays fairly constant you should have a good hatch. Good luck hand have fun!!!

 

[kikidee]

Thanks! I hope to have more people comment.

 

[Denninmi]

It's not unusual at all to have issues with shipped eggs -- no matter how stellar the source and how great the packaging, the shipping process itself, with all of the bouncing around and exposure to extreme conditions of heat and cold just take a toll.

At this point, 7 of 11 is pretty decent. The key now is to be very, very consistent in your incubation techniques and to try to follow to the letter all of the guidelines your particular incubator manufacturer has set. Assuming you are using a forced air model, you temp should be at 99.6 during incubation. I personally would recommend you keep your humidity at around 45 % RH. When you go into lockdown and remove the eggs from the turner (if you have one), up the humidity to about 60%, then go to about 65% when you see the first external pip.

One of the absolutely biggest temptations and stresses will be the fact it seems to take to darned long to hatch -- while the technical time to hatch for duck eggs is 28 days, I feel that this is a "best case" scenario -- more likely, you'll just see your first external pip towards the end of the 28 day period. Duck eggs take about 48 hours from external pip to hatch, and the vast majority of that time it looks like NOTHING is happening -- the "zip" part where they actually open up the egg and then hatch is just the last roughly 8 hours of that 48 hour period.

Good luck. I hope you end up with the 2 or so you are looking for.

 

[Ceinwyn]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=491013

I highly recommend this waterfowl incubation guide to help you along the way.
Also, don't forget to contact Metzer's as they guarantee fertility and will refund you the cost of the infertile eggs you candled.
Good luck to you.

 

[kikidee]

Oh, I have a still air. maybe my hygrometer doesn't work well, but it really irritates me. It always reads around the 50's for humidity (its 54 right now cuz I guess it just rained). I've put a steaming glass of water in the incubator, a steaming towel, and before that, I followed the hova bator's instructions by filling the little well at the bottom of the incubator with water and NOTHING seems to make the hygrometer read more than 51 usually.

 

[Ceinwyn]

Waterfowl actually seem to do better in a still air incubator.
They are just a pain to keep the temperature steady on.
Keeping them in a room with no temperature fluctuations and drafts is really important.
Humidity is best done in three parts for duck eggs.
Low humidity for the first half. 25-30%
Medium for the next 1/4. 40-50%
4 days before hatch day, drop your humidity as low as possible to help with internal pipping.
Once they internally pip up your humidity to at least 65-70%.

Check out the waterfowl guide for incubation.
It gives details on what you should be seeing at each stage and how to help if needed once you get to hatch time.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=491013

Excellent candling photo's I stare at every night. heh

http://www.metzerfarms.com/Candling.cfm?CustID=345934