New to incubating eggs

[Alicia G]

I got a small hova bator about 3 months ago and about one month ago I put six duck eggs to hatch in it. ive been raising and breeding utility birds for my own freezer but I always let the mothers hatch out there own eggs so this incubating buisness is new to me.I know one of the eggs died about 5 days in, had the 'red ring of death' as my brother calls it. The other five seem to be doing fine but today (day 26) I candle them (I hadnt for a bout a week). I saw movemt in three, one just looked black inside (there is a air cell at the end and I can see some veins near it) and the last one the inside didnt look as filled in as the others. there were veins and I thought I saw one of the large veins pulsing (or I could be imagining things!)I dont know if this changes embryo devepolent but the father may have been a call drake, mothers are all utility sized hens(5 to 8 pounds) are they all ok? does the last eggs sound like somethings wrong. All coments are welcome good or bad
thanks

 

[mrslb333]

If your on day 26 you should put them on lockdown ( up humidity, stop turning and leave the incubator closed ). It sounds like what you saw was the duckling pushing into the air cell which means it's almost ready to hatch.
Good luck with your babies

 

[TheFarmMama]

Sounds like they're doing great to me too, best of luck with the hatch!

 

[bargain]

Happy hatching!!! Let us know!

 

[Alicia G]

I looked in the incubator this morning and saw one of my eggs has an exteral pip! YAY! but the other arent even moving that much. is something wrong with the other eggs?

 

[TheFarmMama]

Yay! I don't think there's anything wrong with the other eggs. They just aren't ready to come out quite yet.

 

[Alicia G]

Well in my excitement of seeing that one of my eggs was hatching I told my brother. "look one of my eggs is hatching!"I told him. He looked at it, picked it up and sratched at the crack.I said "what are you doing ben?!". then he turned to me and said "Alicia, sorry to break the bad news but that was dirt". Oh man! I was looking so forward to having my first duckling hatch out! Today is day 28 so I am worried but I candled them and they all are moving around inside. I guess I should look more closely next time.... and maybe clean my eggs better with some steal wool

 

[TheFarmMama]

Lol sorry to hear that, always sucks when you get excited and it's just a feather or dirt, etc. I would very strongly advise you NOT to use something like steel wool to clean your eggs for hatching since it can take off the protective coating on them. If you can't scratch it off with your nail or a soft brush just leave it so long as it's not like covering the whole egg. Hens never clean theirs before setting anyhow so they'll be okay

My eggs go into lockdown tomorrow!!!

 

[Alicia G]

Oh I didnt know that. My old 4-h leader said that its good to get most of the dirt off and to use steel wool and brush (gently of course) off as much as you can. i guess its a good thing I forgot to clean off the eggs! thanks for the tip!

 

[TheFarmMama]

Everyone has their preferences, that's just mine. I don't like to leave anything on there either because of bacteria and such obviously but I've also hatched many times with no problem. You should have seen some of the eggs people have sent me-gross!!! Of course by then it's all dried up and caked on so yeh no such luck removing any of that mess.