How Do I incubate Snowy Call Duck Eggs Properly?

[feather leg farms]

I have a pair of snowy call ducks. I plan to hatch and raise a few of her babies to keep and add to the flock, but I can't get any to hatch. What am i doing wrong? I use a Brinsea Octagon 20 with an egg turner and the other without.

 

[Sweetfolly]

Calls are notoriously hard to hatch. Do you have a broody chicken you could stick the eggs under and let her hatch them? Or, maybe let your Snowy Call hen hatch them herself?

Are the eggs developing full-term and then dying just before hatching? Or are they not developing at all? What do you keep the humidity at during incubation? And, what do you bump the humidity up to during hatching? It could be that the humidity is TOO high and the ducklings are drowning in the shell when they pip into the aircell. Or, it could be that the humidity is too low and the ducklings are stuck in place within the egg.

Lots of Call breeders help the ducklings out of the eggs because they have such short bills they can have trouble pipping and end up suffocating inside the shell. BUT, helping ducklings out of the shell is a very risky, delicate business. It's basically surgery, and if you tear a vein in the inner egg membrane, the duckling can hemorrhage and bleed to death.

 

[feather leg farms]

Yes they die right before hatching. The brines octagon 20 is at 99-100 constantly.I have broody silkies.

 

[critterranch]

one thing i have noticed that helped my hatching was locking down eariler i was locking down too late on day 23. i changed it to day 21 and have gotten better results. this last hatch i had 2 internally pipped on day 20.

what day do you lockdown? do you candle before lockdown?