Please tell me the truth. Should I give up?

[AmyA248]

From my understanding and experience, the humidity level is what controls how large the air sac gets. It's a balancing act that is easier to predict if kept fairly consistent. I don't believe it crucial hour by hour until lockdown. After lockdown, the higher humidity helps the shell soften and keeps the babies moist and lubed for hatching, as they can take some time. It's a balancing act that needs to keep the destination in mind more than any particular point along the way. I do dry hatching because I live in Florida and it's humid most of the year. I only add water if it drops below 30% and full water for lockdown. My experience only goes as far as chicks but know they are very similar. Ducks can be much more difficult but keep trying!

Thank you so much for your reply!
I’ve heard a lot about dry hatching but I don’t know if I can start that if I’ve already started with 45%, which dips to 30% overnight.
For awhile I was actually setting my alarm to wake up every 3 hours overnight, but it became too much. (I have 2 young children)
I’m currently at day 21 and 19 with 2 of my eggs and I’m so nervous every time I candle them because I just cannot get past days 15 - 20.
As of this morning my oldest one would have been at day 22 today, but I candled it this morning and it has passed away too.
I’m just devastated because we very much want to add to our little group.
This is my girl’s first clutch, she never went broody and has been dropping eggs everywhere since January 23rd!! So I had no other choice then to intervene, plus I am in Connecticut, so it’s just too cold even though we bring them in when it goes below 35 degrees at night.
I just can’t imagine what I’m doing wrong. I’ve read everything I can find regarding incubating Muscovy eggs and most things I’ve read contradict each other, so it’s very confusing for me, as I had no idea Muscovy’s were so difficult to incubate. I’ve heard a lot of people have trouble with them as well.
I have pretty much lost all hope that any will survive.
Would you have any suggestions or advice on what to do?
The temperature is 37.6 - 37.8 C and the humidity is at 45%, but dips overnight to 33 - 37%… Could that be the problem? I just cannot keep the humidity constant overnight and getting up every few hours is exhausting.

I hope to hear back from you.

Blessings,
Amy

 

[Ridgeback825]

Thank you so much for your reply!
I’ve heard a lot about dry hatching but I don’t know if I can start that if I’ve already started with 45%, which dips to 30% overnight.
For awhile I was actually setting my alarm to wake up every 3 hours overnight, but it became too much. (I have 2 young children)
I’m currently at day 21 and 19 with 2 of my eggs and I’m so nervous every time I candle them because I just cannot get past days 15 - 20.
As of this morning my oldest one would have been at day 22 today, but I candled it this morning and it has passed away too.
I’m just devastated because we very much want to add to our little group.
This is my girl’s first clutch, she never went broody and has been dropping eggs everywhere since January 23rd!! So I had no other choice then to intervene, plus I am in Connecticut, so it’s just too cold even though we bring them in when it goes below 35 degrees at night.
I just can’t imagine what I’m doing wrong. I’ve read everything I can find regarding incubating Muscovy eggs and most things I’ve read contradict each other, so it’s very confusing for me, as I had no idea Muscovy’s were so difficult to incubate. I’ve heard a lot of people have trouble with them as well.
I have pretty much lost all hope that any will survive.
Would you have any suggestions or advice on what to do?
The temperature is 37.6 - 37.8 C and the humidity is at 45%, but dips overnight to 33 - 37%… Could that be the problem? I just cannot keep the humidity constant overnight and getting up every few hours is exhausting.

I hope to hear back from you.

Blessings,
Amy

I would think that 30-45% would be fine. Again, I only have chicken experience, so I'm not sure about muscovies. How large are your air sacs? I always outline them with a pencil at the last candling for lockdown so that I know the safe zone and the tilt where the chick should pip.

Again, don't give up! I say this as I just came home to our 2 girls dead from our dogs. Our run door popped open all by itself and I was at baseball with my son. I verified that I latched it when I left and have security cam video of it popping open in the wind. Sometimes our best just isn't a substitute for nature but we keep trying and getting better! Sending big hugs as I need one right now too.

 

[AmyA248]

I would think that 30-45% would be fine. Again, I only have chicken experience, so I'm not sure about muscovies. How large are your air sacs? I always outline them with a pencil at the last candling for lockdown so that I know the safe zone and the tilt where the chick should pip.

Again, don't give up! I say this as I just came home to our 2 girls dead from our dogs. Our run door popped open all by itself and I was at baseball with my son. I verified that I latched it when I left and have security cam video of it popping open in the wind. Sometimes our best just isn't a substitute for nature but we keep trying and getting better! Sending big hugs as I need one right now too.

Good morning,

I’m so sorry for your loss my friend. And thank you for the hug!

Thankfully our German shepherd loves our ducks. He licks them and herds them. He’s loving to all our animals and has actually brought injured animals right too me. (I’m also a licensed rehabber and rescuer)

I’ve never had an issue with my last incubation. Just bought a starter incubator and joined this group to walk me through.
I rescheduled 5 abandoned Wood duck and all 5 hatched.
I believe that because this is my girl’s first clutch and she’s still quite young that her body didn’t really work out the kinks yet. She never did go broody and we’ve been dealing with death since January 23rd. She’s been laying for almost a month!
My oldest egg was 22 days old and passed last night.
My poor daughter is devastated! I don’t know what to do anymore. Why can’t I keep them alive??
We want them so badly because they are the ducklings of our original pair that we raised since tiny babies..
I’m just at a complete loss.

Love & Hugs

 

[AmyA248]

I would think that 30-45% would be fine. Again, I only have chicken experience, so I'm not sure about muscovies. How large are your air sacs? I always outline them with a pencil at the last candling for lockdown so that I know the safe zone and the tilt where the chick should pip.

Again, don't give up! I say this as I just came home to our 2 girls dead from our dogs. Our run door popped open all by itself and I was at baseball with my son. I verified that I latched it when I left and have security cam video of it popping open in the wind. Sometimes our best just isn't a substitute for nature but we keep trying and getting better! Sending big hugs as I need one right now too.

I forgot to mention that the air sacs are growing nicely and I’m sending you a big hug right back.

 

[Ridgeback825]

Thanks! Maybe she's just too young yet. Maybe try again in a few weeks. I'm about to load up the incubator with the last few eggs we have from our girls that we lost. Best of luck and keep trying!

 

[Sussex19]

Do you put the eggs in as they are laid, or do you wait till you have a clutch, and then set them all at the same time?
At least with chicken eggs, you should wait till you have them all, and then put them in the incubator at the same time.

 

[AmyA248]

Do you put the eggs in as they are laid, or do you wait till you have a clutch, and then set them all at the same time?
At least with chicken eggs, you should wait till you have them all, and then put them in the incubator at the same time.

I was going to wait but then I read you can only hold onto them for a short time and she’s be consistently lay for exactly one month now. The eggs wouldn’t have survived that wait.
I bring the to room temperature and then set them, but I honestly had no other choice.
Another egg yesterday and 2 this morning STILL. I’m getting worried.

 

[Sussex19]

I was going to wait but then I read you can only hold onto them for a short time and she’s be consistently lay for exactly one month now. The eggs wouldn’t have survived that wait.
I bring the to room temperature and then set them, but I honestly had no other choice.
Another egg yesterday and 2 this morning STILL. I’m getting worried.

Why do you need to incubate all of them? Why not make a cake or something with some of them, and then you would have a more manageable incubation?
I mean this very kindly, to me it just doesn't seem practical to incubate every egg she lays, and you may end up compromising on the ones you are incubating if you can't put them in to lockdown properly.
You can store eggs for up to two weeks.
How are they going?