Hatching my first duck eggs... cayuga and crested whites

[LovinMyPeeps]

So I have my first batch ever of duck eggs in the bator. Temp is holding steady between 99.7 and 100 and humidity is at 78% I'm on day 26, is there anything else I need to be doing for these guys? I've hatched oodles of shicken eggs, but never ducks. I want to be a good duck mom!

 

[FenDruadin]

Sounds about right. Good luck!! Did you candle before locking down? If they haven't pipped, you can still do this. I like to look and see if any of them have their little bills in the air cell--if they do, you'll know it's 24 hours or so before they pip externally. I also like to trace the air cell with a pencil, so I know how large it is and where it's located. Then I can position the eggs so that I can see when they pip (they nearly always pip inside the air cell).

Finally, it gives me information I can use later. I have discovered that my hatches are much better when air cells are large. This information helps me modify my incubating practices to achieve the air cell size I want.

Of course, if it's your first time, then you probably aren't worried about that so much yet, and you don't need to. It's just something I like to do.

What you *do* need to worry about is not worrying, lol. That is to say--chicken eggs hatch much more quickly than ducks. From the time that my ducks pip the outer shell until they hatch is usually about 36-48 hours. If you get worried and try to help them before that time, they will hatch premature and have a harder time.

Have fun!!!

 

[bock]

Yay!

Good luck with you'r hatch.

 

[LovinMyPeeps]

Quote:
Thanks for the info! If I saw a 24 hour old pip I probably would have freaked! I didn't recandle because I candle all of the ones I put in and they all had active movement. I figured that was good. The idea of marking the air cells intrigues me. This is my last hatch this year, but I'll put that in my "hatching book" as I think it's a really good idea for the chicken eggs too! It would give me a good idea whether or not the hatchling is in trouble.

I cant WAIT for these ducklings