Thank you all so much for the excellent feedback! So many options to consider--I'll be giving them a try a bit at a time and recording my results to share.
Mojochick'n--It looks like we were posting at the same time. Sorry I missed your reply before! And sorry your duck hatches are so lousy--I wonder why? Good thing your chickens do so great, though!
happi--I don't think it's the incubator, because I've been getting 60-70% hatches from the very start, from my very first hatch (in a brand new bator). BUT--I really appreciate the tip, so if I ever (fingers crossed I don't but I spose it's bound to happen) see my rates suddenly tank, I'll know what to do!
Mypickle--would a stuck yolk cause a late death? That would make sense--I haven't been turning them during storage. Between fixing my storage temp & turning during storage, maybe I can bump my percentage up pretty quick on my next incubation. Of course, by next Spring I'm going to have so many eggs I probably won't be storing them for more than a day or two at a time anyway. Until, of course, I obtain the larger incubator I'm coveting...
Whiteconfections--I'm certainly thinking of buying a guaranteed accurate thermometer to calibrate my thermo-hygro with. I just read in another thread that the thermo-hygros can go bad suddenly and you won't know until your hatch is screwed up. Hoegger's has a probe-style thermometer for under $20 that is guaranteed accurate and can be used to measure liquid, air, or solid, so I could stick it through a vent hole and measure that way. Thanks for the tip!
eggsrcool--I am very interested to hear the results of your experiment. That's how the hen would store them, so it might help. I'm not sure there would be a practical way for me to do that--I have a toddler, and have to store the eggs inconspicuously because visible eggs prove way too much of a temptation for him and usually end up broken. However, if I get some sort of wine cooler or similar item for storage, I might be able to lock it shut satisfactorily, and then maybe I can figure out how to lay them flat. Please post your results, so I can repeat your experiment if it seems promising! Oh, and I know fertility is not an issue--ALL of my eggs have begun developing, and of those that died, they were all late in incubation--past Day 18 or so (which is not as far along in duck eggs as it is in chicken eggs), and most were during lockdown (though always before pipping).
osagebill--not sure I want to trade luck with you! lol You are making me want to try a water wriggler, though. Water weenie toy! That's too funny. But it makes sense. How did it improve your hatch rate? Did you discover temp variations that you hadn't known about?
