Help! I opened my incubator during lockdown. Will my ducklings be okay?

[Georgina Fritznoodle]

Hi. This is my first time incubating eggs. I put eight duck eggs into the incubator. On day 25 they were all alive and moving, so I put them into lockdown. But, I was concerned because the air cells were small in all of the eggs except for two(less than 1/4 of the egg). On day 29 I hadn't seen any movement from any of the eggs and hadn't heard any noise. I figured they had been unable to hatch due to poor air cell development. I got really nervous and opened the incubator. I candled one egg and saw that the duckling had pipped internally and was still moving. I quickly put it back and closed the incubator. Do you think the duckling will still hatch, or did the sudden drop in humidity likely kill the duckling? It's been twelve hours since I candled it and still no movement, noise, or signs of external pip. Should I keep waiting or should I candle the egg again?

 

[PD-Riverman]

Welcome!
What kind/breed of eggs?
What kind of incubator, temp, humidity, etc will help us to help you more.

 

[Georgina Fritznoodle]

The eggs are mixed breed. The incubator is a cheap, no-name brand incubator from China. The temperature fluctuates from about 97 to 99 degrees. Humidity is about 70%.

 

[PD-Riverman]

The eggs are mixed breed. The incubator is a cheap, no-name brand incubator from China. The temperature fluctuates from about 97 to 99 degrees. Humidity is about 70%.

Mixed breeds---like mixed duck breeds---any Muscovy? Or just the other breeds that should hatch around 28 days?
If your incubator has been dropping to 97 a lot---I am sure you can figure a day or two longer to hatch. If your humidity has been 70% the entire hatch---you might be got bad problems???
Have you hatched in this incubator before?

 

[Georgina Fritznoodle]

Yes, mixed duck breeds. No Muscovy. The temp is usually on the higher end of the scale. The humidity was 70% for the first 11 days of incubation. I didn't know that it was too high at the time. When I realized, I removed all water from the incubator. With no water, humidity was about 55%. I increased the humidity up to 70% again at lockdown. I have never used this incubator before. It's my first time hatching eggs in an incubator.

 

[Georgina Fritznoodle]

I guess what I really want to know is if I should give them more time(It's day 30), or if I should remove them and candle them. One of the eggs does appear to be turning a little blue. If they are still alive, would opening the incubator harm them.

 

[Pyxis]

They'll be fine. Opening the incubator before there are external pips will cause no harm.

They are late, though. Your temp has been too low. It should have been at 99.5 for a forced air or 101.5 for a still air, so you've been low the whole incubation. That will definitely cause a late hatch. So do give them more time.

The one you saw that internally pipped should be externally pipped within 24 hours. If it is not, and you feel comfortable helping it, you can put a small safety hole in the air cell so that it can continue to get air and breathe.

Ducks can take a very long time to hatch, so you'll still have to have a lot of patience. It could still be a couple days yet before they hatch.

 

[Georgina Fritznoodle]

Thank you so much! I will give them some more time then. Should I raise the temperature?

 

[Pyxis]

At this point you're fine to leave it where it is. It wouldn't speed up the hatching time so I'd say let it be for now

 

[Georgina Fritznoodle]

Okay. Thanks again!