Help with duck eggs!!

[Obsessedchickenmum]

I had 12 viable duck eggs at lockdown, raised the humidity to 65-70 percent and left them, I had 3 hatch, 4 internally pip but no external pop and died, 2 I think popped through a blood vessel as lots of bruising on the egg and looked to be leaked blood everywhere when I candles them, and the others just stopped growing at lockdown, what have I done wrong? I want to get some more so I have more than just 3 ducks but need to work out what I’m doing wrong first

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Welcome to BYC @Obsessedchickenmum

Sorry to read about your eggs that didn’t hatch. Here are a couple of links that I hope you find helpful. The first one is about incubation problems and the second is very helpful on waterfowl. It is mainly geese but still useful for waterfowl eggs.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/egg-failure-to-hatch-diagnosing-incubation-problems.67011/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/goose-incubation-hatching-guide-completed.491013/

 

[Isabella Mcadams]

I had 12 viable duck eggs at lockdown, raised the humidity to 65-70 percent and left them, I had 3 hatch, 4 internally pip but no external pop and died, 2 I think popped through a blood vessel as lots of bruising on the egg and looked to be leaked blood everywhere when I candles them, and the others just stopped growing at lockdown, what have I done wrong? I want to get some more so I have more than just 3 ducks but need to work out what I’m doing wrong first

did you turn the eggs throughout the incubation? I would also open up the egg (on the air sac end) on the 4 that internally pipped and the ones that look like they're bleeding. It might help you to get a better view of what's going on.

 

[Obsessedchickenmum]

did you turn the eggs throughout the incubation? I would also open up the egg (on the air sac end) on the 4 that internally pipped and the ones that look like they're bleeding. It might help you to get a better view of what's going on.

Yes they are in an automatic turner.. I opened up the internally pipped ones and looked as though a tiny bit of moisture was in there, could that mean my humidity was to high and they drowned?

 

[Isabella Mcadams]

Yes they are in an automatic turner.. I opened up the internally pipped ones and looked as though a tiny bit of moisture was in there, could that mean my humidity was to high and they drowned?

Probably not… that humidity should be fine. Do you know if they were positioned correctly (breached or not)? Breached ducklings could also explain some bruising. Could you share any pictures of these eggs?

 

[Obsessedchickenmum]

Probably not… that humidity should be fine. Do you know if they were positioned correctly (breached or not)? Breached ducklings could also explain some bruising. Could you share any pictures of these eggs?

The head was upright and beak had pipped through internally, position looked fine with those ones, the other ones that had bruising I didn’t open up, unfortunately I didn’t think of taking photos before I disposed of them would have been helpful if I did.. the ones that pipped internally all I could think of is the shell was to hard or the humidity to high and they drowned, I honestly can’t think of anything else I could have done wrong, and the ones that were bruised I didn’t even think of opening up which I regret now.. could it be because I kept the temp at 37.5c and didn’t lower it?

 

[Isabella Mcadams]

The head was upright and beak had pipped through internally, position looked fine with those ones, the other ones that had bruising I didn’t open up, unfortunately I didn’t think of taking photos before I disposed of them would have been helpful if I did.. the ones that pipped internally all I could think of is the shell was to hard or the humidity to high and they drowned, I honestly can’t think of anything else I could have done wrong, and the ones that were bruised I didn’t even think of opening up which I regret now.. could it be because I kept the temp at 37.5c and didn’t lower it?

Hmm. 37.5 is the right temp. It could be just that the ducklings weren’t formed properly, or were too weak. There are so many factors that come into play when hatching, that it’s hard to know if there was a single thing that caused the deaths. Most likely it had nothing to do with what you were doing, and the ducklings just weren’t going to make it. I’m sorry I couldn’t be any more help

 

[Obsessedchickenmum]

Hmm. 37.5 is the right temp. It could be just that the ducklings weren’t formed properly, or were too weak. There are so many factors that come into play when hatching, that it’s hard to know if there was a single thing that caused the deaths. Most likely it had nothing to do with what you were doing, and the ducklings just weren’t going to make it. I’m sorry I couldn’t be any more help

That’s ok, thankyou so much for responding, atleast I know I’ve got the temp and humidity right and will just try again