Is this normal??

[Savethereptiles]

It's day 24 and I was about to candle my winter clutch for the last time before I start locked down and i looked at one of my eggs and realized it had started to pip..... These are pekin duck eggs, I have never had them hatch this early. I mean they have only been in the incubator for 24 days with me my eggs usually hatch on day 30, is this normal??????

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

Mallard-derived breeds like Pekins generally take 28 days, on average, to incubate (and two days earlier or later is generally considered "normal"). Were your incubator temps running a bit high?

Best wishes for a great hatch!

 

[Savethereptiles]

My temp has been 99.8 the incubation

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

Is that according to the display or an independent thermometer? Incubator displays are often inaccurate.

If it's a verifiably accurate temperature, it's not really high enough to have accelerated the incubation process, so the duckling may just be precocious.

 

[Savethereptiles]

Thank you for this advice