pekin duck eggs day 30

[alyssakittle]

Its day 30 of incubation I have 3 eggs one failed the water test two floated, one of the ones that floated moved a lot yesterday when I candled it but now when I candled it I cant see any more movement. over the 30 days the temperature went down a few times to low 90's it has been steady the last few days and my humidity is at 70-80 %. help! this is my first time having an egg make it this far and I really want it to live, any reason why it hasn't hatched yet????? all the second one that floated has some yellow what looks to be yolk in the air sac is it dead????

 

[Pyxis]

If your temperature dropped it makes sense that they would go to day thirty and be a couple days late. When you candle do you see a shadow in the air cell? If so that doesn't mean it's dead, that means it's internally pipped. How was your humidity for the first 25 days of incubation?

 

[alyssakittle]

nothing that looks like a head but since yesterday a shadow has developed around the dark part of the egg

 

[alyssakittle]

the humidity hasn't changed much

 

[alyssakittle]

 

[Pyxis]

Okay, sounds like your humidity was too high during incubation. You should keep it around 50% or so for the first 25 days. Otherwise the eggs don't lose enough moisture and the babies inside actually drown, which could account for any losses you have. 70% to 80% should really only be for the last three days. I would recommend another float test. Eggs that float and move around in the water and cause ripples are definitely alive. Eggs that float without movement may have died.

 

[alyssakittle]

oh no during the first 25 day it was around 55% only 70-80 the last few days

 

[Pyxis]

Actually those air cells look a little large. That first one even looks bigger than it should be. Are you sure your hygrometer is reading correctly? This is a chart of what air cells should look like through incubation:

 

[alyssakittle]

what does it mean if the air sac is too big? could it still hatch??

 

[Pyxis]

It could still hatch, it just means the humidity was too low during incubation. Too low humidity can also cause them to quit right before hatch though, and I've had it happen to me Hatching this time of year can be hard because of it because it's so dang hard to keep the humidity up.