Hatching Khaki Campbells

[kychilds7]

in the spring of this year i bought 2 khaki campbell ducklings from tractor supply. conveniently, they ended up being male and female. i had seen them mate before but i didnt know that the female was laying eggs because i couldnt tell them apart from my chicken eggs. at this time, i was attempting to hatch chicken eggs but i hadn't seen any activity in 2 months so i gave up. i didnt check my incubator for almost 2 weeks and when i finally decided to i came across 5 fertilized duck eggs!! since then, i have cleared out all the chicken eggs and added 7 more fertilized duck eggs. i now have 12 developing ducklings all at different stages of growth and i candle them once a day just to check them out. last night, i candled one of my eggs and saw what looked like the duckling trying to pip into the air sac, my assumption was correct and today when i got home i checked again to see the ducklings bill in the air sac. since this is the first time i have ever hatched duck eggs, i was wondering if anybody could give me information on how to care for them after they hatch or any tips for during the hatch. i read that it would hatch within the next 24-48 hours and that the duckling must be kept in the incubator for 24 hours after hatching but i want to make sure i dont do anything wrong that will end up hurting them. thank you so much!

 

[Amiga]

@Lacrystol
@Orca5094
@WVduckchick

may be able to advise. There is a sticky on hatching waterfowl here https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/491013/goose-incubation-hatching-guide-completed

It may get tricky due to the need to lockdown. I am not a hatcher, but I have read some of these things, and the risk to a nearly-hatched duckling is if the bator gets opened, the humidity can drop, and the duckling gets shrink-wrapped. The membrane wraps tight around the duckling and traps it - it can be fatal.

Not to alarm you, but you may need to do some intervening.

 

[Ravynscroft]

Where's the humidity at? If it's low, put some lukewarm/to slightly warm water in to raise it around 60-65%... you don't want to duckling to get stuck and higher humidity for a short bit shouldn't hurt the other eggs...

 

[kychilds7]

well, icame home today and checked to see if there was any progress and checked for movement within the egg, there was none so after reading a lot of articles about helping them hatch i took it upon myself to make this attempt. the duckling had died, but i believe it was shrink wrapped which is my fault for overhandling them. i have 10 more eggs in the bator that are all at different stages of development because i didnt realize that they were even growing. i wanted to investigate so i took the whole egg shell off and the yolk sac was barely in the baby duck. what is the cause for this? did it only die because it was shrink wrapped?

 

[Ravynscroft]

Sorry for the loss...

What was the humidity at? It sounds like it was too low for hatching and it dried before it could get out... when one starts pipping you need to make sure the humidity stays up and don't open the bator as long as it is progressing and/or peeping...
We can help you, but we need to know more info so we can figure out what's going on...

 

[kychilds7]

oh sorry, it's usually anywhere between 50% and 60%, i don't know how to get it higher. it's a styrofoam incubator with the little water canals at the bottom and i make sure they are always filled. it was moving this morning when i left for school but when i got back at 10:30 it was dead. i have at Least 2 more that are supposed to hatch in the next few days. it's just so disappointing because i got my hopes up and the first one didn't make it but if you could tell me how to get the humidity higher maybe that would help?

 

[kychilds7]

oh i just saw the reply about warm water, i usually put warm water in it!!

 

[Ravynscroft]

Those styros can be difficult, which brand is it? Some are very finicky...
For humidity, just get some new sponges, wet them and place them around the bator but not against the eggs... try one and add as needed... getting a straw and placing the sponges so you can dribble water in from the vents helps you to keep from opening it as much too...
Do not feel bad, hatching is a learning experience and can be very difficult depending on the incubator and other factors...

 

[Ravynscroft]

oh i just saw the reply about warm water, i usually put warm water in it!!

Good job! Just make sure its not hot... hot water will give it a false humidity spike...

 

[kychilds7]

i cannot thank you enough for the advice! i will be sure to post photos if they successfully hatch also, do you have any advice for what i should do in the case that the duckling hasnt absorbed its yolk sac? thank you again