Oklahomaduckie
Hatching
- Feb 4, 2024
- 4
- 3
- 4
I'm looking for opinions on what might have happened. I have a new incubator, Farm Innovations circulated air with an egg turner. My previous experience is with still air incubators, if that matters.
Lockdown was to start on Saturday. Temps stayed a consistent 99-100 with humidity around 50%. I use two thermometers- the one on the incubator, and a second inside resting on the egg turner. It's a greenhouse thermometer because that's what I have, but it's digital. If humidity dropped, temp would rise about a degree but I check it constantly so once humidity would come back up, temps would drop back to the 99-100 range. 24 eggs appeared viable.
On Friday morning, a duckling hatched in the egg turner. I had let humidity drop to the 30's, because I was about to set it on lockdown the following day. While I removed the egg turner and shot up the humidity, I noticed several had already pipped and I most likely shrink wrapped them.
Ducks continued to hatch Friday-Saturday. I got seven in total, 25% hatch rate. I left the remaining eggs in the incubator just in case, but did NOT think any would hatch. I was pretty confident I shrink wrapped the lot.
Come Sunday/Monday... my husband and I both think we can hear inner egg activity in the incubator. No way, right? Sure enough, TUESDAY NIGHT two more hatched.
Things of note, the eggs were collected specifically for me over a three day period from someone local. I don't think anyone was sitting on them.
When the first duck started to hatch, I moved the thermometer of course out of the egg turner and onto the bottom of the incubator. Temp read more like 96 degrees, which I didn't think was a problem for ducks actively hatching. Were some maybe just not quite done and the temp drop slowed them down? So many questions, lol.
Lockdown was to start on Saturday. Temps stayed a consistent 99-100 with humidity around 50%. I use two thermometers- the one on the incubator, and a second inside resting on the egg turner. It's a greenhouse thermometer because that's what I have, but it's digital. If humidity dropped, temp would rise about a degree but I check it constantly so once humidity would come back up, temps would drop back to the 99-100 range. 24 eggs appeared viable.
On Friday morning, a duckling hatched in the egg turner. I had let humidity drop to the 30's, because I was about to set it on lockdown the following day. While I removed the egg turner and shot up the humidity, I noticed several had already pipped and I most likely shrink wrapped them.
Ducks continued to hatch Friday-Saturday. I got seven in total, 25% hatch rate. I left the remaining eggs in the incubator just in case, but did NOT think any would hatch. I was pretty confident I shrink wrapped the lot.
Come Sunday/Monday... my husband and I both think we can hear inner egg activity in the incubator. No way, right? Sure enough, TUESDAY NIGHT two more hatched.
Things of note, the eggs were collected specifically for me over a three day period from someone local. I don't think anyone was sitting on them.
When the first duck started to hatch, I moved the thermometer of course out of the egg turner and onto the bottom of the incubator. Temp read more like 96 degrees, which I didn't think was a problem for ducks actively hatching. Were some maybe just not quite done and the temp drop slowed them down? So many questions, lol.
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