Muscovy Ducks Developing, but not hatching

[JJAcres]

Hello everyone - this is our first post, so please forgive us if this is the wrong forum, etc.

That said,

We have a few Muscovy ducks that we keep in a large coop for laying, 7 female, 2 male. We have had great success in the past with 1 duck in particular, who has hatch out what we consider large clutches (8-12). She did this "free range", if you will, both behind and on-top of a round bail of hay.

However, lately we have a problem. We had two ducks where were sitting their clutches very well, and we had marked when we stopped seeing them leave their nest on a calendar so we had a general idea of when they might hatch. However, that time came, and went. First, two ducklings came out, then two days later, another... then nothing. We waited another day or so, hoping she would abandon the nest, kick out the eggs, or something... but it never happened.

So, with the fear that we would be disturbing the whole process, we went into the nest and looked at what was happening. There were well over a dozen eggs still left. All of them appeared to have ducklings inside, but none of them were moving. We did our best to check really well, and ended up opening a few to check. For lack of a better way of saying it - it looked as though they were fully developed, but just never made it out of the egg.

The exact same situation was true in another nest which was set at nearly the same time.

It also happened about two months prior with a nest from yet another duck - and this was before we brought them into the coop.

We have tried to find good information on what might be happening, but keep finding too many people trying to hatch in incubators. We are trying to let nature be nature (while also protecting from predators by being in the coop, which is outdoors, just fenced with a roof).

One possible thought for us was that the shells were literally too hard for the duckling to break - that we are doing something wrong feed-wise, and the shells are developing "too strong". We are feeding them Purina Layena (LINK). We have used this feed for some time, including during the two successful hatches the first duck I mentioned had.

We really cannot think of anything that has changed. But would love some input.

Thank you,
Jared
J&J Acres

 

[jdywntr]

Don't know where you are located. How has your weather been?

I would say that if some ducklings are able to hatch, it probably isn't a calcium issue. You could switch to a non-layer feed and provide oyster shell without great difficulty or expense.

If your area has been cold or dry or wet the eggs could have been chilled, killing the duckling or if dry not have received enough humidity, shrink wrapping them or if very rainy/wet they could have gotten too much humidity and died due to that.

I recently had 2 chicks die after shrink wrapping under the chicken. They had almost completely gotten out of the shells but the membrane kept them in and dried.

There are so many possibilities, its hard to say. As I'm sure you are aware, duck eggs are thicker but are yours REALLY thick shelled? If so, I'd change feed.

 

[JJAcres]

We live in Toomsuba, Mississippi, USA. The weather has been fairly up-and-down. Days where it is 70, days where it is 40, one day where it snowed, another where it hailed. I am sure you understand.

What does the oyster shell help with?

We have never purposefully cracked our duck eggs except when we started having this problem, so I cannot really say if they are harder than I would expect a duck egg to be.

They are laying inside covered areas - large totes, halves of dog houses - and those are under a sheltered coop. The mom ducks were sitting them very well, so I would be surprised if temperature is the problem. As for the humidity - I can't say. There are dry days, there are rainy days. We certainly aren't monitoring it.

I appreciate the help.

-Jared
http://www.youtube.com/user/JandJAcres

 

[missnu01]

Well unless you want to try out incubating a few so you can perhaps see where it all goes wrong, then you will have to continue letting nature take it's course...You could try switching the food, since poor diet of parents can cause lower hatch numbers...perhaps they need more protein but a little less calcium. In which case flock raiser with a side of oyster shell might be the best bet. Was your successful hatch at a different time of year, perhaps later in the year when the temp is more stable? maybe there are temperature variations that are difficult to acclimate to...
it sounds like things are going well for the ducklings til the end, so it just about has to be an issue with either general health and vigor of the ducklings, or humidity, too much, not enough... All I can think of is hope the hatches get better as the season goes on, or get an incubator and try to see if you can't figure out what the issue was/is...try changing the food, it won't hurt anything either way. I like the higher protein of flock raiser. Makes me feel like everyone will be doing better chicks and ducklings included.

 

[JJAcres]

Well, maybe we just got impatient! We just had a HUGE hatching

Check it out!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Well, maybe we just got impatient! We just had a HUGE hatching

Check it out!

Thats alot of ducklings. Congrats.