Hatching duck eggs

[tootall10]

Please help I’ve tried hatching duck eggs the last two times one duck piped but nothing else happened the eggs are fertile but I’ve noticed that when I crack their eggs the membrane is really tough and I was wondering what I could do so it wasn’t so tough and if that was the reason they didn’t hatch thanks for any help

 

[tootall10]

I definitely will try that I hate I didnt know this before and yes I had it between 70-75 for the first 25 days and then 80 on the last three days cause I read online a while back that said to incubate them like that cause I didn’t know but what should the humidity be?

 

[tootall10]

Ok I will try that thank you so much for all your help.

 

[Pyxis]

!

Can you give us more information about your incubation practices? What temperature do you keep your incubator at, and have you verified that it's at that temperature with a thermometer that you know is accurate? Is the incubator still air or forced air? What humidity percentage have you been keeping the incubator at, both for the first 25 days and for lockdown?

 

[tootall10]

I keep the temperature 99.5 Fahrenheit and humidity around 75 but up it to 80 and remove the last peg at the top of the incubator three days before hatch and the incubator is still air and I’ve not verified the temperatures with a thermometer.

 

[Pyxis]

When you say 75% humidity, is that for the first 25 days? If so, that's much too high and I would suspect is the reason you're losing them. Have you tracked air cell growth to make sure it was progressing well, or weighed the eggs to track moisture loss that way?

Your temperature is also low if the incubator is a still air - for a still air, the temperature needs to be 101.5 F measured at the top of the eggs. I would also check it against an accurate thermometer because the digital displays on incubators are often wrong.

 

[Pyxis]

I definitely will try that I hate I didnt know this before and yes I had it between 70-75 for the first 25 days and then 80 on the last three days cause I read online a while back that said to incubate them like that cause I didn’t know but what should the humidity be?

I would start around 40% and watch the air cells and see how they progress, and then adjust higher or lower as needed. Here is an air cell chart you can compare them to when candling:

 

[tootall10]

Thank you so much for your help but one last thing how do I know whether to raise the humidity higher or lower sorry for all the questions.

 

[Pyxis]

Thank you so much for your help but one last thing how do I know whether to raise the humidity higher or lower sorry for all the questions.

Oh sure, I probably should have said that, haha. If the air cells are too small, that means humidity is too high and needs to be lowered. If they are too big, it means the humidity is too low and needs to be raised.

 

[SoMississippi]

The one thing that will make the most improvement on your hatch rates is to go to a forced air incubator. It can make a huge difference in your hatch rate. For many incubators, there are retro-fit kits, but a forced air incubator isn't super expensive.