Hello everyone,
I have had ducks and geese for over three years now and have hatched both multiple times.
I bought seven Sebastopol eggs last month and drove to pick them up, so no shipping. I did not have a way of candling them until I got home, which showed me one of them was already rotten. Two never started developing.
I have used my Hova-Bator 2370 forced air incubator with automatic turner every time I have hatched eggs. I have multiple calibrated thermometers and hygrometers monitoring temperature and humidity. Temperature has been 99.5-99.7°F and humidity has been 20-35%.
They are on day 25 today and have lost 13-15% of their weight, the air cells are dipping, blood vessels are present, and movement is visible.
My concern is that none of the eggs have chorioallantoic membranes completely covering the inside of their shells. The best one has about a nickel-sized area that's not covered, the worst is about 1/5 of the shell uncovered. I started some duck eggs a few days after them to try and line up hatching times the best I could and all five of them are completely covered.
There is not a ton of information available on survivability, any adjustments I should make at this point to try and increase hatching rates, etc. The most I found on BYC was a mention in Pete's incubation guide that they would most likely die in week three without a fully formed membrane. We're past three weeks and still alive.
Anyone have any experience with this or advice?
I have had ducks and geese for over three years now and have hatched both multiple times.
I bought seven Sebastopol eggs last month and drove to pick them up, so no shipping. I did not have a way of candling them until I got home, which showed me one of them was already rotten. Two never started developing.
I have used my Hova-Bator 2370 forced air incubator with automatic turner every time I have hatched eggs. I have multiple calibrated thermometers and hygrometers monitoring temperature and humidity. Temperature has been 99.5-99.7°F and humidity has been 20-35%.
They are on day 25 today and have lost 13-15% of their weight, the air cells are dipping, blood vessels are present, and movement is visible.
My concern is that none of the eggs have chorioallantoic membranes completely covering the inside of their shells. The best one has about a nickel-sized area that's not covered, the worst is about 1/5 of the shell uncovered. I started some duck eggs a few days after them to try and line up hatching times the best I could and all five of them are completely covered.
There is not a ton of information available on survivability, any adjustments I should make at this point to try and increase hatching rates, etc. The most I found on BYC was a mention in Pete's incubation guide that they would most likely die in week three without a fully formed membrane. We're past three weeks and still alive.
Anyone have any experience with this or advice?
