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

[Teacherchick18]

Ok so I am on day 26 of my "mystery" duck eggs. If they are the 28 day incubation type would I start to see a dip in the air cell now or closer to 28 days? I'm trying to decide if I should move them to the hatcher, or keep them turning. I am having a hard time seeing in the eggs. Is it possible to not be able to see movement at this point because the eggs are so full?

 

[WVduckchick]

Usually turning is stopped on about day 25 for ducks. Is this the set that you have incubating with others on different days? Sorry, my memory is horrible.
And yes, it is possible that you won't see much movement when they get so big.

 

[Lacrystol]

Thanks for the reassurance! I checked the egg again about 5 days later and it looks like the others so I guess it was able to resituate in his shell. I am on day 24 for the 1st set of ducks. I am watching for the "dip" to see if they are ready to hatch. It seems that they are a ways away from hatching because the air bubble seems small to me. Is the dip pretty noticeable? I am used to watching chickens so I am not sure if I'm just off because of the egg size difference. Also, would the ducks be able to hatch in the same incubator as the chickens are hatching in? or do they need a higher humidity in order to hatch?

Yes, Dipping is very noticeable..

Yes, you can hatch a duck in the same bator,

NO, they do not need high humidity. Around 60-65 is good unless you have some sticky babies then it needs to go higher.

 

[Lacrystol]

I had khaki cambell hatch last night. It has lame leg. It hatched at 26 days also . Leg looks folded under body other leg has good movement.

Slipped Tendon???

 

[Lacrystol]

Ok so I am on day 26 of my "mystery" duck eggs. If they are the 28 day incubation type would I start to see a dip in the air cell now or closer to 28 days? I'm trying to decide if I should move them to the hatcher, or keep them turning. I am having a hard time seeing in the eggs. Is it possible to not be able to see movement at this point because the eggs are so full?

Take them off the turner but keep them in that bator, wait for dipping.

 

[Teacherchick18]

Usually turning is stopped on about day 25 for ducks. Is this the set that you have incubating with others on different days? Sorry, my memory is horrible.
And yes, it is possible that you won't see much movement when they get so big.

Yes I have 2 sets of ducks that are 1 week apart and then some chickens that are actually hatching right now. The ducks are mixed between Muscovy and a Cayuga/Swedish mix. Problem is, I just don't know which is which. So they could either have an incubation period of 28 days or 33 days depending on which ducks they came from.

 

[Teacherchick18]

Yes, Dipping is very noticeable..

Yes, you can hatch a duck in the same bator,

NO, they do not need high humidity. Around 60-65 is good unless you have some sticky babies then it needs to go higher.

I had some sticky babies in the batch of chickens that were incubating with them so I think that I will try it a little higher. I did have a couple times where the humidity got lower than I like.

Do you, or anyone else have any pictures of what the duck eggs look like when they have dipped. I will try to get a pic of mine and see if I can post them. I think I only have about 3-4 eggs that are on day 26 and about 8 eggs that are one week younger than that.

Thanks for the help!

 

[WVduckchick]

Here's what they look like after they draw down further. This one had actually already pipped.

 

[Teacherchick18]

Here are the pics of my 3 that are on day 26. I was really bad and didn't mark the air cell, but I did weigh them. I put their weights under the pic. It looks like some might have dipped?

This one started at 77g and now weighs 68g.


This one started at 79g and now is 73g.


This one started at 76g and now is at 63g.

 

[WVduckchick]

1 and 3 look good and ready. 12% and 17%. #2 is less than 8% weight lost. Those are some odd ranging numbers! Could that be one of the muscovies? The tilt of the air cell is normal. Could you see any internal pips?
I would move #1 & #3 to the hatcher.