Need help - what if my hen won't hatch duck eggs - how do I do it?

[davekrista]

Awesome, thank you sooo much for all the help and info. I'm headed to go and check the temp right now and I will cover the walls while at it..

 

[davekrista]

Ummm... It is 100.5 in there on top of the eggs. I changed the cloth so it is on the sides as well.... I'm worried though because the eggs were very hot to the touch.... When I see movement when I candle an egg the movement i see, is that a heartbeat? or the duck moving around? I candled 1 egg again and didn' see the movement and now I'm worried it got too hot. I'm praying that the duck is asleep and that is why no movement.... Gosh I don't think I'm going to get any sleep tonight worry like a first mom. lol.....

 

[katharinad]

The temp is to high, go down in the wattage. Too much heat will kill them. I bet 60 watts will be enough, since the bulb is so close. You also need to know that ducks sleep in between and you wont see movement. There is no way of seeing a heart beat. You may be able to hear it with a stethoscope, but that takes a little bit of practice. Also don't candle to often or open up the incubator. The drop in humidity will hurt them. Best not to do much at all, but keep the rags wet and and temp right. Do not let the rags dry out! Make sure they stay wet at night. You can have them hang over the edge of the bucket into a pan full of water, that way they will stay wet for sure. This will be a high risk hatch, so you must try to get it as perfect as possible. Low humidity will shrink wrap them, which is deadly to the duckling. Do the air sacks still look white with the light? This means they have not internally pipped. Once they pip internally they need to pierce the shell 24 hours later. From there they should hatch within 48 hours. Have a pencil ready and write down times as these thing happen (mark the eggs 1-3). That will help you to determine when you have to step in and help. It is best not to help, but you may have to.

 

[davekrista]

I had seen some charts that told me what to look for and I can't find the link now... I am assuming the air sac was the bright part, 1 of them was like yellow... I took some pics, so I will try to get them uploaded. I'm still praying it didn't get hot enough to kill them. I know they were already high risk, I do have a stethascope, maybe tomorrow I will dig it out and try to find a heartbeat?

 

[davekrista]

I just changed the bulb to a 60 watt but I am still going to keep my eye on it and I have the cloth hanging on over the outside and before I go to bed I will put a bowl of water out and let it hang in there so it doesn't dry out over night...... Thanks again for all your help. I really want these to make it and I'm learning as I go..... my husband thinks its still too hot, but i haven't checked the temp yet

This isn't the greatest pic but this is one candled egg... The others were to dark to see in the pic..... There is some poop on the outside egg shell, not sure if i should try to clean it or just leave it....but that is what the black

 

[katharinad]

Don't bother with the poo, they will be out soon anyway. Candling looks good. They have internally pipped once the use the entire room in the egg. That is when it all goes black. Just watch out for the temp.

 

[davekrista]

oh I was thinking it backward for some reason. I was thinking it would all turn white..... so they have NOT pipped then? And if the whole thing will go black then looks like they are a while from doing that? Since its about 1/2 and 1/2 right now? If so do you have a guess as to how far they are? I was thinking i had any day now, but if not I should probably think about getting an incubator if I have a while...

 

[davekrista]

Temp is for the most part staying around 95 - 96 degrees.... When I was checking the temp this morning though i noticed one of the eggs had a small like hole crack in it.... Is this ok at this point? It was fine when I went to bed so I'm confused..... I was thinking about candling again to check them but don't want to handle them too much.

 

[askjcm2005]

anything yet? Do you have any silkies? I heard they will hatch any egg and are the best "mothers"

 

[davekrista]

askjcm - I have 1 silkie mix but she is still very young and not even laying yet. - so far nothing yet, but I am keeping a close eye on them. My bucket is smelling kind of weird, i'm not sure if its the wet rags or not. My husband said if these high risk eggs don't work out he would like to order some and get an incubator and do it right. The kids are so excited to be learning about it.