Hatching Rouen Duck Eggs

[farmlife27]

Hi everyone,

This is my first post here, and first time hatching eggs in an incubator. My Rouen laid her first egg on Nov 2, 2022. She would lay them everywhere, and has laid one every day since then. I decided to put them in the incubator, and after doing so, I think I read somewhere you aren't supposed to hatch her first eggs. It was too late at this point because I couldn't bring myself to take them out (I could see little heartbeats in them). I originally placed 7 eggs, 5 of the 7 took. I believe of those 5, 3 eggs ended up passing. I took those out. Fast forward to now..

Today is Day 29, I have 2 eggs in lockdown. The temp and humidity (per the manual instructions) has been set at 37.8 C and around 60% since placing them into it. It has fluctuated some (between 58-65). I checked them before "lockdown" and saw movement. I have been watching them like a hawk for two days lol. I don't see movement any longer, the air sac is still the same (at the fat end of the egg). It hasn't "drawn down", on top of not seeing movement. Is it possible they have passed on? Or is it normal for the air sac to be the same at the bottom, and no movement when looking at the egg? I'm not sure if I should hold onto hope and keep waiting it out, or what... I did notice the night before last (Day 27) what appears to be "bruising" on one spot of the blunt end of egg 1, and the other egg it appears to go in a thin line around the bottom half of the egg where it sits against the bottom of the incubator.

This was my first batch ever. I was hopeful, but now...not so much? This incubator is a forced air that was brand new that was given to me, I then purchased another (still air) incubator and have 7 eggs in it with good development and movement in 6 of the 7 eggs. Those are due to hatch on 12/15/22.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Let me see if I can tag some pros on bator hatching.

@New duck mommy 2021
@Overo Mare

 

[Painted Calls]

Thanks for the tag Miss Lydia! @shawluvsbirds and @WVduckchick are by far more experienced than me at hatching. Hopefully they will stop by and share their knowledge.

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

This is my wrong end baby I did hatch after I learned what the bruise meant. I made a small hole where the first bruise was in the middle then left her for 24 hours. The next day the bruise was bigger and over. I made a second hole in the middle of that bruise the size of a pencil eraser and the long hatch begins. This baby took 52 hours from the first little hole and she still had a tiny yolk to absorb another 2 hours out of the egg. So be very patient they are long hatchers
This egg was under mom and her only egg to make it out of the 8 as she went broody a few weeks after me and her babies died not being able to get out as the eggs were small
I took hope away and had to assist as it was my last chance to save one of her eggs
She will be one on Jan 10 and also no issues and going great.

 

[farmlife27]

I have had them hatch ax early as day 25 and as late as day 30
That’s why I don’t do the day 25 lockdown I do the watch the eggs
So far it’s looking good
The air cell is dipping Forward and lots of nice shadowing
At the lower part of the air cell watch the nonevent for up and down in a pattern this will tell you if the baby is breathing
I can’t say for sure if baby is internal pip yet but if it’s not in it’s close
So exciting
My fingers are crossed for you

Thanks! I am super excited, I swear I go in there every 30 minutes to check on them LOL. All 7 of the eggs are looking like that, lots of shadowing and pushing into it, but so far I haven't seen the beak really in it to say for sure they have internally pipped. I put them in on 11/15, originally I was counting that as Day 1, which would make today Day 24. But then I read that you actually count Day 1 as the next day, so Day 23. They're still just a kicking and moving around. I could've shown it a lot better but I didn't want to pick the egg up and disturb him (or her) lol. Have I mentioned that I am SO EXCITED lol. It's hard to not sit there and just watch them constantly lol.

 

[farmlife27]

I’m so glad I can help
I had a great mentor after I lost my first baby having fast hands that caused the little one to hatch to early not absorbed enough
She isn’t on here as much anymore but @WVduckchick gave me so much knowledge and confidence and guided me through assists with good results.
@Miss Lydia also kept me very calm as well as I was so nervous
The little family on Byc site makes things so much better

@New duck mommy 2021 I woke up this morning to a 'Motion Detected" on the little camera I have on my eggs, I thought we had a hatch.. Nope, just this little guy getting some exercise in LOL

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

@New duck mommy 2021 I woke up this morning to a 'Motion Detected" on the little camera I have on my eggs, I thought we had a hatch.. Nope, just this little guy getting some exercise in LOL

He must be getting into position and ready for his hatch
It’s usually a 2-3 day process
They take a long time but you will enjoy getting to watch every moment of it
The first time my eggs had moved I didn’t see them actually move but I had swore I had them a certain way and a few were not where I put them
I thought I was going crazy till I saw it move lol

 

[farmlife27]

He must be getting into position and ready for his hatch
It’s usually a 2-3 day process
They take a long time but you will enjoy getting to watch every moment of it
The first time my eggs had moved I didn’t see them actually move but I had swore I had them a certain way and a few were not where I put them
I thought I was going crazy till I saw it move lol

I knew if I told someone that the eggs were moving, they'd look at me like i was crazy LOL. That's why I put that little camera over them so I could catch it on camera for proof...Or maybe I am crazy

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

I did my ducks eggs that she had not bring laying long. The eggs are much smaller the first while and csn cause hatching issues
If you saw a bruise that’s most likely the baby trying to get out but wasn’t able to break the shell
Can you take a picture of the bruise
Out of my 6 that were small eggs
2 died. One I helped to soon to much the second was a bruise at the wrong end and I had no idea what that meant
2 others I had to do full assists and the two eggs that were the bigger of the 6 hatched themselves
I learned after that I no longer incubate anything under 70 grams
Going back to the bruise you need to make a small safety hole after you see a bruise outside the air cell then wait 24 hours to do anything else
You treat it like an internal pip.
If your eggs are smaller be prepared to assist as often they don’t have room to move and turn to correctly hatch but they can still be perfectly healthy babies. Mine will be a year this month and doing amazing
Also pics of the second egg
I can help you all the way to hatch if they are still alive

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

:/ awe man.. that stinks.. Thank you for the advice! I will give it another day or so and see if there is any progress but i'm kind of thinking they didn't make it I already had that feeling but it helps to have another set of eyes to make ya feel better about it

It’s very tough when they make it to the end and then loose them. I’m very hard on myself when I loose one
Although I have got pretty good at this now and my hatch rates are high 90-100 %. But I had to loose some and have every kind of issue rise up and assists to know exactly what to look for
I have helped 2 schools , 3 buyers of my eggs and 1 family who wanted to try. They all got 100 % hatch rate following my guidance but one buyer who didn’t and only got 2 of 6 eggs to hatch when all 6 made lockdown
This is my way I incubate
Temp is 37.5 -38 or 99.5-100
Humidity 40-50 till lockdown then 65 for hatch and as babies hatch This will rise to 70
I don’t follow day 25 lockdown I follow the babies signs
Shadowing along air cell , egg rocking and air cell dips forward or draws down
That’s when I start lockdown. It could be day 23-26 anywhere in there I have done it. Day 10 to lockdown I take eggs out once a day to cool down and spritz them with warm water
I weigh my eggs once a week ti watch for weight loss. I watch my air cells and if to small by week 2 I’ll lower my humidity to get them to increase. If they are to big I’ll up my humidity to slow them down
I candle my eggs every single day and after lockdown I check more often to know when the internal pip is. Once I see external I leave them be to not disturb humidity
Internal I look for the beak but not all little ones beaks get up in the air cell so I will also watch movement at the lower part of the air cell for breathing
The movement is easy to tell the difference once you see it both ways
Flickering is baby getting ready but up and down in a pattern is breathing
I also look for any bruising on the eggs and also check under the egg as I have had one external pip under missing the air cell but had I not found it he wouldn’t have lives as the hole was facing the bottom of the bator ( this was my first batch
I have had everything you can imagine go wrong happen and yet I still got healthy babies so never get to discouraged.
The school had one with 2 air cells. No idea how that happens but it did
I say I could write a book on all that can go wrong but still turn out okay
Let’s cross our fingers for your next batch
You can message me anytime for help
No question is silly as we can only learn things by asking and incubating eggs isn’t natural to humans it’s a learning curve