Hatching Rouen Duck Eggs

[farmlife27]

I move mine at 4-6 hours after hatch
They don’t need ti be fully dry but you want them able to stand and walk so they can go to and from heat as they need
I always put feed abc water in immediately and show them but they won’t always go yo it yet

Good to know! I will wait til they can do that better. 3rd baby is out, 2 more are almost out lol. This is so exciting!

 

[farmlife27]

Each baby does their own thing
But usually a couple hours or so
They are pretty floppy at first
Some will be moving in an hour and others take 4 to get things going

I hope you got to watch the actual hatches

Thank you! Two of them who hatched ab 2 hours ago, are figuring it out. The others are pretty floppy still lol. I did get to watch them hatch! I checked on them, no signs of zipping or hatching. My daughter and I went next door to eat with my MIL, I told her "watch them start while we are next door" lol. Sure enough, we were finishing eating and I checked the camera and he was making his way out. But as soon as we were done, I came back and got to watch the other 5 zip and hatch! This has been the greatest and coolest experience ever! Thank you so much for helping me through it lol!

#6 just made its way out. The others are all cuddled up together lol. Now to just wait on #7!

 

[farmlife27]

@Miss Lydia @New duck mommy 2021 @Texag87 thank y'all so much! I did end up letting them stay in the incubator last night since #7 didn't hatch til midnight. I was up til about 2am and they were all cuddled up sleeping so I left them be and moved them to the brooder this morning. They're still drying out a little and drinking and resting lol. They are adorable and love cuddles! One of them seems to be holding one of his eyes shut but if I rub around it with my thumb, like stroking or petting his head, he will open it but if not then he keeps it closed. Anything to look out for there?

The great eggscape 2022

 

[farmlife27]

I would give it another day but it’s very possible they didn’t make it

:/ 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

 

[farmlife27]

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

Thank you SO MUCH for that advice! I believe my issue was with the incubator itself, I was only going by the temp and humidity that the incubator said. I should have put a thermometer inside of it. This incubator that was given to me was a forced air incubator. The new one I bought is a still air. I still don't have any changes on these, I just feel it in my gut that they are gone. I'm going to give them til this afternoon just to see if anything changes during the day.


BUT! Wait, there's more! lol

I went to check on my other eggs in the still air. I took the top off to turn them, AND THE EGGS STARTED MOVING! I was so shocked, I had to call my daughter in to watch LOL. So my next question, is turning them still necessary? (This one didnt come with auto turner, so I have had to turn these by hand). The air cell looks like they are starting to come forward (does that even make sense? lol) So should I turn the eggs back the way they were when they were rocking, bc the air cell is starting to go that way. Or do I keep turning them like I have been?? I initially put 8 eggs into it, I have 7 that are good. The 1 that didn't take, looks like it never even started developing. The still air shows humidity and temp on the top, but also came with one to place on the inside. The one on the outside shows between 90-95, but the one on the inside shows it staying right at 99.5.

I wish I would have had your advice the first time around!

I'm starting to think I just don't like the forced air incubator... Which do you prefer? (or anyone reading this lol)

 

[farmlife27]

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

I tried to get a picture of what I meant by the air cell leaning more to one side, but I'm not sure you can tell very good by the pic, i had to have my daughter hold it for me lol.

Oh also, I had to put my cam up to see if I could watch anything happen lol #crazyducklady

 

[farmlife27]

I have forced abc like mine but I run calibrated humidity and temp ones
If the eggs are rocking and air cells are drawing up on one side is signs hatching will be in a few days
Those are when I stop turning my eggs
Keep the egg facing up where the draw is higher up the egg
With still air ones the temp is suppose to be higher but I’m not sure of how high. Maybe others who run them can chime in and advise on that
My readers on my bator itself are terrible and never have given accurate readings.

Thank you (again) lol. I went back and put them back the way they were with the air cell facing up. Hopefully we continue in the right direction with these babies!

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

Thank you (again) lol. I went back and put them back the way they were with the air cell facing up. Hopefully we continue in the right direction with these babies!

Keep us posted
You can candle a few times a day not picking the egg up just where it’s laying
Babies will be moving into position as the rocking is usually a sign that’s what’s happening then when you see baby in the air cell you mark the time down.
You don’t have to up the humidify yet. I only do it after I see the first baby with internal pip.

 

[farmlife27]

Keep us posted
You can candle a few times a day not picking the egg up just where it’s laying
Babies will be moving into position as the rocking is usually a sign that’s what’s happening then when you see baby in the air cell you mark the time down.
You don’t have to up the humidify yet. I only do it after I see the first baby with internal pip.

Sorry, one more question LOL. The still air incubator has a thermometer and humidity gauge on the outside, i also placed the extra thermometer it came with, inside next to the eggs. The outside one shows its around 95 degrees, but the one on the inside, egg level, shows 99.5 consistently. My question is, since the outside thermometer is showing off, could the humidity be off as well? It's currently showing around 70%. I have a small black thermometer/humidity thing that i ordered a big pack of off Amazon for my mealworms. I'm not sure how accurate it is either, but should I place it inside by the thermometer to monitor what it says for humidity? I really don't want to lose any this go around like the last batch (that originally started this thread). What should the humidity be at?

 

[farmlife27]

It’s the coolest thing to watch
Have shy got the beak into the air fell yet ?

@New duck mommy 2021 They all have lots of shadowing and moving alot, so far I haven't seen a beak in the air sac to say for sure. I got a video of the most active one (the one rolling the egg all around lol). He even rolled it around while I was videoing him, guess he thought I could see better the other way LOL.