Low hatch rate

[Crazy H Chickens]

Hi all. This was my first time hatching duck eggs. I set 41 Cayuga eggs that I got from a friend. 28 started, the others weren't fertilized. I only had 5 hatch out of 28. 1 died after internally pipping and 1 died after it had zipped. The rest looked like they passed right before lockdown.

I usually have 85% or higher hatch rates with my chicken eggs. I have a little giant incubator with forced air and egg turner. I set it on 99.5⁰ F and 55 - 60% humidity for the first 25 days then 98.5⁰ and 70% for the last 3.

What did I do wrong with this batch?

 

[MommaHen1996]

My best advice, since I use the same incubator (but never hatched ducks) is to YouTube the incubator model hatching duck eggs.

 

[MommaHen1996]

I noticed with the egg turner my hatch rate went down....when I turned them myself like 5-7 times a day, all hatched but one, or maybe it’s a humidity thing.....

 

[Crazy H Chickens]

I noticed with the egg turner my hatch rate went down....when I turned them myself like 5-7 times a day, all hatched but one, or maybe it’s a humidity thing.....

Yeah I was wondering if my humidity was wrong. I had a second gage, that read close to the same, I'm just at a loss.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Personally I have the best hatch rates when I keep the humidity between 50-55% and boost to 60-65% at lock down. I also rotate the eggs in different spots in the incubator to ensure none are consistently sitting in the cool spots. Even with a forced air incubators slightly cool spots are inevitable and even that .5-1 degree difference can change your hatch rates.

 

[Crazy H Chickens]

Personally I have the best hatch rates when I keep the humidity between 50-55% and boost to 60-65% at lock down. I also rotate the eggs in different spots in the incubator to ensure none are consistently sitting in the cool spots. Even with a forced air incubators slightly cool spots are inevitable and even that .5-1 degree difference can change your hatch rates.

Oh I never even thought about rotating positions. I obviously still have so much to learn. Thank you!

 

[Knighstar679]

For me I had a lot of sticky or drown duckling at humidity over 40% for the first 25 days. The exception has been my bantam duck eggs I run them a bit higher. And my lockdown is usually around 65%