Need Help Troubleshooting Late Deaths

[Crazy Duck Lover]

Hey BYC Fam. I have had it in the plans to start a small hatchery and sell fertile eggs online from my duck, but am thinking I need to push that plan back as I am running test batches and crunching numbers. I’ve noticed some things, good and bad:

- Fertility has been 100%
- Air cells have been excellent and growing amazingly
- No deaths up until day 14

- Had 16 alive, growing eggs and am now down to 11
- All deaths have been past day 14 (Around day 18)

Notes for you guys:
- Ducks have been producing for a few months now
- They eat Purina Duck Pellets with free access to oyster shells
- Limited treats
- Using Nurture Right 360’s
- Temp 99.5
- Humidity 45%-55%
- Mixed breeds

I looked up some troubleshooting and I got these possibilities:
- Inbreeding
- Improper breeder nutrition
- Power failure (Only for about 10 minutes though)

Could anything else be causing these late deaths? If it is breeder nutrition, what could they be short on? What should I give them? That would be the first adjustment I’d want to make, and if it turns out not to be that, then i’m not sure what to do.

 

[Miss Lydia]

You need some incubator and hatching experts.
@shawluvsbirds
@WVduckchick

 

[HollowOfWisps]

-Are you using the onboard thermometer and hygrometer for temperature and humidity readings? Separate digital or analog thermometer and hygrometer?

-How far open are your vents?

-Are you using the automatic Turner or hand turning and did you mark two sides of the egg with a pencil/crayon to make sure they are being properly turned?

-Are your ducks inbred or would this be first generation inbreeding?

 

[WVduckchick]

Good questions from @HollowOfWisps

Feed/nutrition that you are providing sounds fine.

Whereabouts are you located, as humidity could be a factor? See the red link on my signature block below for more info on humidity.

 

[Miss Lydia]

@HollowOfWisps I would have tagged you too but I have the hardest time remembering your BYC name

 

[Crazy Duck Lover]

-Are you using the onboard thermometer and hygrometer for temperature and humidity readings? Separate digital or analog thermometer and hygrometer?

-How far open are your vents?

-Are you using the automatic Turner or hand turning and did you mark two sides of the egg with a pencil/crayon to make sure they are being properly turned?

-Are your ducks inbred or would this be first generation inbreeding?

- I have a separate calibrated hygrometer/thermometer
- Vents 100%
- Using auto turned and check it with markings on each side of the egg
- This would be 1st gen inbreeding

 

[Crazy Duck Lover]

Good questions from @HollowOfWisps

Feed/nutrition that you are providing sounds fine.

Whereabouts are you located, as humidity could be a factor? See the red link on my signature block below for more info on humidity.

Located in South East Texas

 

[HollowOfWisps]

@HollowOfWisps I would have tagged you too but I have the hardest time remembering your BYC name

- I have a separate calibrated hygrometer/thermometer
- Vents 100%
- Using auto turned and check it with markings on each side of the egg
- This would be 1st gen inbreeding

Since you have those boxes checked I would lean towards some nutrient issues with your breeders.

 

[Crazy Duck Lover]

Since you have those boxes checked I would lean towards some nutrient issues with your breeders.

What nutrients though? I’ve tried to look it up but can’t find much.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

What nutrients though? I’ve tried to look it up but can’t find much.

I have been trying to find the same answer for awhile now on exact nutrients with no luck. I saw on a vet's website that they recommended the month before hatching boosting overall nutrient cosumption. I'm planning on this spring the month before I collect eggs for hatching to start all of my breeders on Rooster Booster to see if there is any difference in hatch rate. I'm the nerd who likes to document everything so I already have my abstract write up, previous findings, theories and format for documenting the spring hatch to compare with prior hatches