Muskovy and chickens

[EriLynCap]

Hi I have a muskovy mom to be sitting on a clutch of eggs. From researching I see muskovy eggs take 35 days and chicken eggs take only 21 days. Well despite my watching the nest she managed to start 2 chicken eggs with her eggs. They are developing great... I just moved them to the incubator a couple days ago so she wouldn't stop setting her eggs because chicken eggs hatched, but I can't tell if I'm at day 12/13 or coming up on day 17/18 though I've looked at multiple pictures online... My concern is how do I know when to do the lockdown when I don't know if I have 5 or 10 days left ?
Please help. I expect ducklings Easter-ish or by the weekend after if that helps. Thank you

 

[sourland]

One day either way won't cause a problem.

 

[AmyA248]

If I don’t know their exact hatch date, because I have many staggered ages of Muscovy eggs in my incubator, I simply candle the eggs and can tell when they’re ready for lockdown.
Your looking for a large air sac and a completely full egg with no fluid or veins.
You’ll see “shadowing” right above the air sac, which means baby is getting ready.
At this point they go into lockdown and up the humidity from 45% (in the incubator) to 65% in lockdown.
It can be between 65% - 70%
Leave the eggs and internal piping should occur within 5 days.
I always put a safety hole because Muscovy’s are notorious for very slow hatching and it’s very stressful for us.
I’m currently going through the same thing that you are, but I had to incubate from day one!
My 3 chicks just popped out, no problem at all, but ALL of my 10 Muscovy’s I’ve had since last June required assistance with hatching.
The one I decided to allow to try to hatch on its own passed away. I did an eggtopsy and she was absolutely PERFECT. What a heartache that was!
Many people don’t believe in assisted hatching and let nature take its course, but I just cannot do that.
Everyone has their own opinion with I greatly respect, so just follow your instincts and beliefs. And remember Muscovy ducks are VERY difficult, I’ve certainly learned my lesson with that!!

Good luck and blessings to you.
Amy

PS Here are our new babies, you can see by the one in the cup was very challenging indeed.