Hatching ducks days 21 weigh in

[Violanna]

Ok so I’m on day 21 of hatching duck eggs. I have 4 magpie cross eggs and 7 Pekin cross eggs. Mommas are the magpie and Pekin, drakes were either black Swedish or khaki Campbell. Well my eggs have amazing growth, almost 100% blacked out and good movement.

However I’m worried they haven’t lost enough weight. The Pekin have all lost 6 or 7g and the magpie 4 or 5g. However based on starting weight my Pekin were due to lose 9-10g and the magpies 7.5-8g. Weight loss has been pretty steady at -2g weekly for the Pekin and -1.5g weekly for the magpie. Should I be worried?

I am planning to remove my auto turner and lockdown in 2 days as air sacs are beginning to grow swiftly. So I need to know if I need to do anything before then. I am keeping humidity around 60% as I was instructed to do before I started. Temp is adjusted from 99.5-100 to maintain a 99 reading on my accurite thermometer. I’ve only had to raise it to 100 twice and only for a few hours on extra cold mornings.

Edit to add- this is a homeschool project for my kids so I added their chart they are keeping for candling and weigh in days. Yes they are all named after duck Pokémon!

 

[Yardmom]

In the future I wouldn't
have the humidity quite so high (45-50). I personally would lower it to 40 for the next two days before bumping in back up to 65 for hatching. Keep an eye for early hatchers from the humidity being a bit high.

 

[Violanna]

In the future I wouldn't
have the humidity quite so high (45-50). I personally would lower it to 40 for the next two days before bumping in back up to 65 for hatching. Keep an eye for early hatchers from the humidity being a bit high.

Ducks need high humidity to mimic mom laying with wet feathers.

 

[Yardmom]

My ducks don't have wet feathers when sitting in their nests. The oil on the feather repels the water. Not losing enough moisture means humidity was to high.