My duck eggs hatching early!?!? Did I do something wrong?

[WVduckchick]

Hopefully these pictures are better so you can see inside. I couldn't see any movement in the eggs. Do they look bad?

Anything new this morning?? I'm thinking you might have a little sticky issues, and they don't look quite ready, but they don't look too bad. Maybe these are muscovies and just need more time. Hard to be sure. No movement huh?... did you tap on the egg as you were candling? Sometimes a peck with your fingernail will wake them up. Its pretty cramped in there, so once they get that big, movement is less often and less obvious.

 

[Teacherchick18]

One looks good but two is sticky and three is sticky. I would raise that humidity up to about 70-75 to help two and three.

Anything new this morning?? I'm thinking you might have a little sticky issues, and they don't look quite ready, but they don't look too bad. Maybe these are muscovies and just need more time. Hard to be sure. No movement huh?... did you tap on the egg as you were candling? Sometimes a peck with your fingernail will wake them up. Its pretty cramped in there, so once they get that big, movement is less often and less obvious.

Nothing new that I can tell but I still need to candle them to be sure. How can you tell if an egg is sticky? What are you looking for when you are looking in the egg? I only know how to look for movement, veins, internal pipping and air cell size at this stage. What things can you tell from what you see? Does my question make sense?

 

[WVduckchick]

Nothing new that I can tell but I still need to candle them to be sure. How can you tell if an egg is sticky? What are you looking for when you are looking in the egg? I only know how to look for movement, veins, internal pipping and air cell size at this stage. What things can you tell from what you see? Does my question make sense?

Yes, it makes sense. Usually in the very late stages, the entire egg will look dark and full of duckling. The "clear-ish" fluid areas that you see in the bottom of the egg has not been unabsorbed, so when the baby hatches, this fluid is usually very thick and sticky and stuck all over its body. Its not necessarily harmful, its just a pain for us, because it hardens and can be tough to wash off. The eyes and nostrils are the areas to watch most though, so they don't get clogged. Its possible for it to not be thick and sticky too. I had one I was sure would be sticky, and it turned out fine.

 

[Teacherchick18]

Yes, it makes sense. Usually in the very late stages, the entire egg will look dark and full of duckling. The "clear-ish" fluid areas that you see in the bottom of the egg has not been unabsorbed, so when the baby hatches, this fluid is usually very thick and sticky and stuck all over its body. Its not necessarily harmful, its just a pain for us, because it hardens and can be tough to wash off. The eyes and nostrils are the areas to watch most though, so they don't get clogged. Its possible for it to not be thick and sticky too. I had one I was sure would be sticky, and it turned out fine.

Ok, that makes sense. We have been having some serious humidity fluctuations this time around because we've had 1 week of terrible storms and then several days of dry weather and then more storms again, so I think that could be why I've had several of my chickens that are hatching come out super sticky. In fact, I lost 2 mid hatch (one in pip, one in zip) because of sticky issues. And I have had to help several get unstuck from their shells. This has been the case in all 3 incubators that I have going.

 

[Lacrystol]

From the top

From the bottom

WOW who's this ONE TWO OR THREE? Look at the bottom, see all that GOOY stuff, that's going to slow him down, if not suffocate him..

 

[Lacrystol]

From the top

Another view from the top


From the bottom

This guy isn't to bad from the bottom but look at the top, OUCH, another sticky dude..

 

[Lacrystol]

From the top

Another view from the top

From the bottom

Another view from the bottom

AHH they are all sticky.

 

[Lacrystol]

Hopefully these pictures are better so you can see inside. I couldn't see any movement in the eggs. Do they look bad?

They are a lot worst then I thought, Funny how you can see an ALL new ball game once you candle both ends and have a completely dark room. What day is it for them?

 

[Lacrystol]

Nothing new that I can tell but I still need to candle them to be sure. How can you tell if an egg is sticky? What are you looking for when you are looking in the egg? I only know how to look for movement, veins, internal pipping and air cell size at this stage. What things can you tell from what you see? Does my question make sense?

What I look for is the YELLOW thick stuff, you have it on the bottom of the shell and on TOP, this is like a thick gooy yellow blob, what it does is it confines them, so they can't finish absorbing AND it also suffocates them. That is why there's a lot of deaths when it comes to sticky babies. It's a challenge to get them to survive. You have the yellow gooy stuff on both top and bottom, and if it's close to hatching day, you should not be able to see ANYTHING in that egg AT all. You can't see yolk when they are this late in the stage. Yolk is set between there legs for them to absorb, your eggs should be completely black, you see even if they have yolk, your not going to be able to see it because there legs and Butts will basically be hiding it.. but in your case, they can't absorb it so it just sits there at the bottom of the shell causing issues.

IF and that is a HUGE if, if you by any chance could see the yolk it would be a dark redish color, why because it would be covered with Veins and Blood..

 

[Teacherchick18]

WOW who's this ONE TWO OR THREE? Look at the bottom, see all that GOOY stuff, that's going to slow him down, if not suffocate him..

This was the 3rd one