How can I increase my duck egg hatch rate?

[Jelibaen]

Hi everybody! Its me again!!
I won a draw on Facebook for a dozen assorted purebred duck eggs and they came in today. I have 4 Cayuga eggs, 4 Saxony eggs and 4 Welsh Harlequin eggs. I'm SUPER excited, but I'm also really anxious and looking for some tips!

I've only hatched 3 other times. I live in Northern Alberta, so its a fairly even climate. Our average humidity right now is like 25% on a sunny day?
1st time was last year, using an HHD 12 egg incubator. Set it at 99.5F, didnt have a humidity gauge, 2/5 eggs hatched (both drakes). All 5 reached lockdown - the other 3 died prior to pipping.

2nd hatch was this April. Nuture Right 360, set at 100F because I thought the temp wasn't reading correctly, using eggs I got from random people around town. A little skeptical on this one because some of the ducklings were developing with deformities - one quit at day 17 with the top bill half the length of the bottom. I did candle them daily to monitor progress and see how they developed. This gave a 5-10 min cooldown per day. Humidity was kept evenly around 50 until hatch then raised it to 65-70. I had a LOT of quitters in this one - only had 12 going into lockdown and 9 hatched. 9/22 total.

My 3rd hatch was with my own duck eggs and they hatched May long weekend. Temp set at 99.5F, humidity really varied this round. Tried to keep it around 45-50 but we had power outages and it rained a lot and then got really cold and froze for a few days and yeah it was a bit of a disaster. Only candled four times, did not do daily cooldowns. Up to 69% for lockdown. 22 eggs put in, I had 3 quit early, and then a lot quit halfway through. 13 eggs at lockdown, 1 pipped but failed to break through the membrane and suffocated. 12 hatched.

I really want this batch of eggs to go well and I dont know if theres any tips you guys have about doing so! I havent tried spraying them with water every day - I've heard mixed reviews on whether that really helps or not. I have heard about dry hatching but wasnt sure that works well with waterfowl and I would probably want to test that on my own eggs first.

Thoughts, comments, concerns, criticism, all advice is appreciated!!

 

[IvysAnimals]

Hello! Here are some tips on keeping the eggs from possibly dying:
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1. Make sure your birds don't have any diseases and have good genetics

2. Make sure to only carefully scrap manure off of the egg and don't wash it ( to keep bloom on )

3. keep temp at 99.5 F

4. Lightly mist warm water on the daily until lockdown, then bump humidity to around 65% ( or dry hatch until lockdown )

5. Use clean water to spray the eggs

6. Make sure the eggs are being turned at least 3 times a day

7. Make sure the more pointed or "top" of the egg is facing down

8. Don't candle the daily, about 2-3 times throughout their development.

9. If you're candling them, don't let them out for more than 5 - 10 minutes

10. lockdown at 3 days prior and don't turn them or open the incubator

11. When or before they're hatching, don't open the incubator until all or most have hatched

12. Ducklings can be in the incubator for no more than 72 hrs ( best is to not let them go 48+ )

13. Let the ducklings in the incubator to dry off, then quickly put them in the brooder

14. Make sure you have a properly working thermometer and a hydrometer


Hope those helped!

 

[Kiki]

I hatch eggs regularly with good results.

I'd tell you to:
Stop the cool down stuff.
Do not spray the eggs with water.
Get a salt tested humidity gauge and lower it down to 35 ish and don't raise it until you see an external pip.
Make sure you have multiple calibrated thermometers so you can see, at one glance, if you have a hot spot in your bator.


The less you mess with the eggs the better.

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

Hi everybody! Its me again!!
I won a draw on Facebook for a dozen assorted purebred duck eggs and they came in today. I have 4 Cayuga eggs, 4 Saxony eggs and 4 Welsh Harlequin eggs. I'm SUPER excited, but I'm also really anxious and looking for some tips!

I've only hatched 3 other times. I live in Northern Alberta, so its a fairly even climate. Our average humidity right now is like 25% on a sunny day?
1st time was last year, using an HHD 12 egg incubator. Set it at 99.5F, didnt have a humidity gauge, 2/5 eggs hatched (both drakes). All 5 reached lockdown - the other 3 died prior to pipping.

2nd hatch was this April. Nuture Right 360, set at 100F because I thought the temp wasn't reading correctly, using eggs I got from random people around town. A little skeptical on this one because some of the ducklings were developing with deformities - one quit at day 17 with the top bill half the length of the bottom. I did candle them daily to monitor progress and see how they developed. This gave a 5-10 min cooldown per day. Humidity was kept evenly around 50 until hatch then raised it to 65-70. I had a LOT of quitters in this one - only had 12 going into lockdown and 9 hatched. 9/22 total.

My 3rd hatch was with my own duck eggs and they hatched May long weekend. Temp set at 99.5F, humidity really varied this round. Tried to keep it around 45-50 but we had power outages and it rained a lot and then got really cold and froze for a few days and yeah it was a bit of a disaster. Only candled four times, did not do daily cooldowns. Up to 69% for lockdown. 22 eggs put in, I had 3 quit early, and then a lot quit halfway through. 13 eggs at lockdown, 1 pipped but failed to break through the membrane and suffocated. 12 hatched.

I really want this batch of eggs to go well and I dont know if theres any tips you guys have about doing so! I havent tried spraying them with water every day - I've heard mixed reviews on whether that really helps or not. I have heard about dry hatching but wasnt sure that works well with waterfowl and I would probably want to test that on my own eggs first.

Thoughts, comments, concerns, criticism, all advice is appreciated!!

I’m in southern Alberta
I run my bator 99.5-99.8
Humidity around 45-50 till lockdown then up to 65 and it runs higher after babies start to hatch
I’m very hands on with my eggs. I candle everyday
I hand turn them as I don’t trust the turners and really don’t like the upright turners as this is not a natural position for eggs to be in
I start misting on day 10-lockdown allowing them to cool 5 mins
When I see the eggs rocking and shadowing along the air cell I stop turning them even if it’s a day or two before lockdown as thats babies getting into hatch position
I don’t up my humidity till I see the first internal pip then it’s lockdown time
I am getting very high rates
The last 3 buyers of my eggs doing exactly as I have said got 100 % hatch rate no quitters and all fertile As well as 2 schools I let incubate
I myself messed up my own 100 % this round as I started with 8 and had one stop on day 3-4 but I had set eggs as long as 20 days after being laid. I really expected to loose more to be honest but 7 hatched. I also had a mishap when I added warm water instead of room temp went to bed and woke up to 110 temps 5.5 hours later
I thought they were all gone
Nobody was moving at the first candle
I let cool naturally
Unplugged bator and added new water of room temp. Within a few hours all were moving around and all hatched nobody had any issues or abnormal things Out of my eggs
I also had 5 of my friends Swedish eggs and unfortunately 1 stopped the other 4 also hatched
Out of 11 eggs to go in lockdown
1 hatched late day 27
7 hatched throughout day 28 and last 3 early on day 29