Help with hatching ducks

[Myducks2018]

I started out with 7 duck eggs. I had one start to hatch the morning of day 27 throughout the day another started to hatch but had like a yellow bubbly slim coming out around the area it was trying to hatch from. I googled it and found that it was possible that it had busted the yolk sack and might need help out. I waited and the next day I very carefully tried to help it out but didn’t even get past the air sack. There was no movement and no sounds coming from it. The other 5 eggs never did anything, however there was a baby duck in them. I gave them an extra 5 days and nothing ever happened. I was curious and poked through the shell on one at the air sack. There was mold inside the egg. Does anyone know what could have caused them to do this?

I added eggs to the incubator at the end of each week and had a total of 25 eggs. The second ones I put in never hatched either and also had mold in them. I have a couple that are supposed to hatch in a couple days, in one of them I think I saw some movement. I’m hoping this means I will have better luck with the rest of them.

But on a good note the first one that started hatching made it out fine and is doing great. It has became our sweet little buddy and follows us everywhere! We plan on hatching more and any information on what to do to avoid the problem we have had so far would be great!

 

[Kiki]

Congrats on the one duck!
Bacteria or fungus may have gotten into the eggs.
You may want to research Aspergillosis.

"Aspergillus spp can penetrate egg shell and infect the embryo. The infected embryo may die or hatch with well developed lesion. If infected eggs are broken, large numbers of spores are released, which contaminate the hatchery equipment [3]. Aspergillosis can be acute or chronic form. Acute aspergillosis generally occurs in young birds and resulting in high morbidity and mortality. The chronic form is sporadic and it causes lesser mortality and generally affects older birds, especially a compromised immune system due to poor husbandry condition [2]."
https://www.omicsonline.org/open-ac...is-in-poultry-2157-7579-1000382.php?aid=79759

 

[Myducks2018]

Thank you for the information! I will definitely read up on this.

 

[Kiki]

Also...double check your temperature and humidity levels with calibrated devices.
You can not trust the ones that come with an incubator.

Running too high of humidity for too long can cause them to not hatch because they drown in the shell.

 

[chickens really]

Trying to stagger hatches doesn't work too well. You need to Candle and keep an eye on the air cells to make sure the humidity is correct so the eggs can lose the right amount of moisture.
Best of luck next hatch...

 

[Myducks2018]

Right now the humidity has stayed at 70 for a couple days. At first it was staying between 60 and 65. The temp is at 98. This is the first time I’ve have ever tried to hatch ducks. We have raised babies many times but we always buy them. The incubator I am using belongs to my parents and they have hatched chickens many many times and have always had good luck with them. I ordered my own incubator so I can return theirs and try again. I have also read that the automatic turners work best for chickens but not ducks, which is what this and the one I ordered has. Should I leave those out when trying next time, and just turn them by hand daily? Any advice on this is greatly appreciated. And thank you guys so much! I have learned a good bit from this site!

 

[Kiki]

I think you are running too high humidity levels.
@Nyla is a professional duck hatcher. She may have more specific numbers for you.

 

[Myducks2018]

I also have another question. I have 4 adult ducks. 2 female and 2 males. I was getting 2 eggs everyday from them. I bought 3 babies to raise and hatched the one. The ones I bought are now in a pen outside with a heat lamp. Their pen is inside the bigger duck pen. My 2 females have stopped laying completely, could the babies being out there have anything to do with that?

 

[Kiki]

I also have another question. I have 4 adult ducks. 2 female and 2 males. I was getting 2 eggs everyday from them. I bought 3 babies to raise and hatched the one. The ones I bought are now in a pen outside with a heat lamp. Their pen is inside the bigger duck pen. My 2 females have stopped laying completely, could the babies being out there have anything to do with that?

Possible...it may have caused stress for the adults.
Also...why a heat lamp?
How hot is it in there with the heat lamp?
Measure it with a thermometer.

 

[Myducks2018]

Is it possible that the babies being around them is something they will adjust too? I keep the babies in my house under a heat lamp until they can go outside, and these 3 are getting pretty big fast.

Also, I’m in WV so it’s still getting pretty cold at night. The heat lamp is In a house with a pen around it for them to go out in. The haven’t gotten all of their feathers just yet so I wanted to keep heat on them to be safe, and they really seem to like being outside being able to run around.