inubating pekin eggs

[1st time pekineers]

hi all, we're just starting out and have more questions than answers...we're at day 22 with our 1st batch of pekins, problem? is, one is starting to pip. do we stop the auto turner? if we do then we have to open the incubator to continue turning the other eggs untill day 25. any assist. would be most appereciated

 

[duckyfromoz]

So sorry no-one answered this thread sooner for you- I suppose your hatch must be finished this time around - but you shouldnt leave a turner on when you are hatching. The chicks can get crushed between the eggs and the actual parts of the turner- or underneath it as well. Hope everything turned out ok for you.

 

[critterranch]

i have never heard of ducks pipping on day 22 unless they are calls. not sure hows it going? may take a few rails out and lay egg on wire. how full is your bator?

 

[critterranch]

i would probly pull out turner and continue to hand turn rest. this is kind tuff. i normally hand turn all mine no turner 3x daily.

 

[1st time pekineers]

thanks so much for your responses, we weren't sure if we were conected or not. true story, the early bird is doing fine and has been joined by 2 more of his buds (day 25) a fourth is pipping as we write. our new "first hatch panic" questions are ...when we stopped turning what do we do to keep the hatched ducks from knocking over the unhatched eggs we positioned all w/ the air sack up when we shut down the turner. 2nd question... we have 3 eggs in the incubator that you can almost see the chicks thru, this doesn't look right and it's almost like they grew to large, i'm not seeing the air sack. should we discard them now or wait and see. i've heard of eggs blowing up and don't need that.

 

[shelleyd2008]

If the eggs are going to blow up you'll smell them beforehand. If they aren't stinking they aren't going to blow up. To keep your unhatched eggs in the right position you should use an egg carton. Then the little ones can run all over them and not disturb them. The 3 eggs that you can see chicks in are probably right before the point of pipping, they usually 'fill' the air cell at this point.
For future reference, the eggs don't have to be turned the last 7 days or so. They chick/duck is big enough at this point to keep itself unstuck. So if you have early pippers again, just turn the turner off and leave them in the turner.
Also, since I assume you set all these eggs at the same time, yet have such a variable on the hatch dates, I would suggest that you check the temp in your incubator. It sounds like you have some hot/cold spots in there. Does the incubator have a fan?


thanks so much for your responses, we weren't sure if we were conected or not. true story, the early bird is doing fine and has been joined by 2 more of his buds (day 25) a fourth is pipping as we write. our new "first hatch panic" questions are ...when we stopped turning what do we do to keep the hatched ducks from knocking over the unhatched eggs we positioned all w/ the air sack up when we shut down the turner. 2nd question... we have 3 eggs in the incubator that you can almost see the chicks thru, this doesn't look right and it's almost like they grew to large, i'm not seeing the air sack. should we discard them now or wait and see. i've heard of eggs blowing up and don't need that.

 

[1st time pekineers]

we're back and again thanks so much to all who replied!! we're on what should be the last day of our first hatch. so we have 4 bright shiny baby pekins and as of this post 12 more that either better get real busy real fast or tomorrow they go to the manure pile.no signs of pipping at all, guess i had better do some more research before we set the next batch. FYI we're using a "top hatch" w/auto turner and fan i"ve kept the temp at 99.5 and humidity at about 58% since the begining, is there a problem with any of that? also these eggs are gathered and kept at about 55* for 5-7 days prior to settin' we candled at 7 day intervals and from a novices perspective we pitched only 4 out of 20. the development seemed good from all the pics available on line. what do ya'll think?