First time incubating duck eggs, Help!

[Terri E]

Ok, today is the estimated hatch date. Could the duck eggs be late?
They are From a female Rhoen, dads are Peking & khaki.

But I see a mark appearing on the egg. Like a vein type line. I had to open the incubator and check the other eggs. Not on any other eggs. It's wet cause I wanted to make sure. Once I left it alone, it wiggled a little and heard a tiny peep. But nothing more.

There are 11 eggs total. What should I look for? Reason, three days ago, about 4-5 eggs wiggled and peeped then nothing.
The humidity rose up to 70. The temp lowers between 99-100F. What should I look out for? Please help!

 

[Pyxis]

What date did you set them? Is your incubator still air or forced air? Humidity is perfect for lockdown

 

[Terri E]

I had counted the days and today should be the day. If not then tomorrow. Still I'm concerned and hoping that I'm doing everything right.
My incubator is still air. Now the humidity rose to 77 and is going down again. Which is why I'm worried, the humidity fluctuations.

 

[Terri E]

What date did you set them? Is your incubator still air or forced air? Humidity is perfect for lockdown

Ok, lockdown it is then. Will not open until it's over. Would like to assume it's starting - again.

 

[Pyxis]

I had counted the days and today should be the day. If not then tomorrow. Still I'm concerned and hoping that I'm doing everything right.
My incubator is still air. Now the humidity rose to 77 and is going down again. Which is why I'm worried, the humidity fluctuations.

With still air, your temps have actually been a bit low, so they might not hatch right on day 28. If you set them on 1/17 today would be day 28 and the hatch day, but with the temp being low they might take a day or two longer than normal.

I would watch the humidity and make sure it doesn't get too high - 70 is good, but higher isn't necessary and could make it harder for hatching ducklings to dry off after the hatch. Plus, it will also go up when the eggs start pipping, so keeping it around 65 to 70 percent would be ideal if possible.

 

[Terri E]

I would watch the humidity and make sure it doesn't get too high - 70 is good, but higher isn't necessary and could make it harder for hatching ducklings to dry off after the hatch. Plus, it will also go up when the eggs start pipping, so keeping it around 65 to 70 percent would be ideal if possible.

How can I reduce the humidity? It went up to 74.5 atm.

 

[Terri E]

Ok it went down to 72

 

[Terri E]

Ok it went down to 72

 

[Pyxis]

It's interesting that it keeps fluctuating like that without you adding water or opening the incubator. Have any of the eggs pipped? Is the temperature fluctuating as well?

The only way to lower humidity is to reduce the surface area of the water in the incubator. So that would mean taking some water out.

However I would just let it be for now.

 

[Tlmcq]

Sounds to me like you are doing ok if you have movement and peeps. Just keep in lockdown and wait...duck eggs take much more patience than chicken eggs...they can be 24 hours or more from internal pip to external pip. It definitely requires patience and can cause much anxiety waiting, especially with first couple times hatching.