Rouen Egss HATCH DATE IS CLOSE

[Zelda2121]

I'm a first timer with hatching eggs that have been incubated. They are completely black which I believe is the duck. The problem is that it is day 20. Was the temp too high? Have they grown faster than they should have? The temp is 38 Celsius and the humidity is 88%. Eight days to go. Any info is greatly appreciated. Thank you so much!!

 

[Pyxis]

Has the humidity been 88% the entire time? That is very high. That's higher than I would even go for lockdown. If it's been that high the whole time, I would expect the eggs have not lost enough moisture and likely won't hatch - the ducklings will drown when they try to internally pip.

Can you post a picture of the eggs while you are candling them? 38 C is a little high if your incubator is forced air, but at most that should cause the ducks to hatch a day or two early, definitely not a whole week.

 

[Zelda2121]

I’m not sure how to change the humidity but I turned the temp to 37 Celcius. Will I kill my ducks because we had the temp and humidity too high? My incubator is small and has a area in the middle to pour water into.

 

[Zelda2121]

This was the duck egg a few days ago. Now it is completely black and the pic I have of them all black you can’t even see at all.

 

[Pyxis]

Can you take a picture of it being candled through the air cell at the top? You should be able to see at least some space at the top when candled that way.

That actually doesn't look too good to me; if that was taken just a couple days ago it should look like this, with veining clearly visible:

To lower humidity you need to take water out of the water troughs. Does this incubator only have one water trough? Most good ones will have multiple smaller troughs so you can fill just a few to get your humidity right, or all at once if needed.

With the humidity being 88% the entire time, unfortunately chances are good that they won't make it If you candle and it looks like they are alive, I would remove all water immediately and incubate totally dry until the eggs start to internally pip to try to get the air cells to the right size.

 

[Zelda2121]

Yes they all have the open area at the bottom that is a reddish color. I see the outline of them and they have been kicking. I turned the temp to 35 C. I have one water tray in the middle. So I need to fill it less? Or because of their circumstances drain it completely?

 

[Pyxis]

I would leave the temperature at 37.5 because that's what it should be at. No need to turn it down.

If it is all one big trough, then you need to drain it completely. Just putting less water in would still make the incubator the same humidity.

It's not the space at the bottom of the egg that I was meaning, but the air cell at the top of the egg - the fatter, blunt end. Candle from the top and see how big the air cell is. Post a picture if possible.

 

[Zelda2121]

Okay I will drain it. Here are some pictures of the egg. It’s completely black. They are supposed to hatch in 5 days. I can’t change the humidity unless I drain the water or open the top. Should I just open the top constantly?

 

[Pyxis]

No, you shouldn't open the top, just remove the water.

It doesn't look like you're candling through the air cell in those pictures. Can you please candle through the air cell and post a picture of that? And maybe use a flashlight instead of a cell phone since it will be brighter?

 

[Zelda2121]

Okay I can try again. We have terrible flashlights so I figured a phone flashlight would work best. It’s my first time with ducks so we don’t have anything duck related. I hate to sound very uneducated but where is the air cell?