Runner Duck Hatch-a-Long! 2021

[AAcres]

When you have an duckling quit do you open the egg and check it out? I had another quit on day 20. I haven’t been able to look at any of my previous quitters but I wonder if I should be. I think I’m most nervous about it not being dead, even though I am quite certain it is. I still have 8 going strong, the one that quit was progressing well, I hadn’t noted anything unusual along the way.

So last year I set 25 eggs in my incubator. 20 eggs made it to lock down. I checked them all as I placed them to hatch and every egg had good movement and veins. Then only 7 or 8 hatched and the rest died. I was devastated.
It was my first hatch and I may have opened the incubator to check on everyone too many times.
I did look inside a few of them. Some didn't even internally pip, some did. none of them externally pipped. I'm sure it was human error and I did something along the way during the hatch or during lockdown. It's hard to say. I don't know enough to really tell what happened.

Are all the veins gone from the one egg now? No movement? If you're worried it may not be dead then I'm sure leaving it is fine. I left all mine until all the healthy ones hatched.

 

[graypes]

So last year I set 25 eggs in my incubator. 20 eggs made it to lock down. I checked them all as I placed them to hatch and every egg had good movement and veins. Then only 7 or 8 hatched and the rest died. I was devastated.
It was my first hatch and I may have opened the incubator to check on everyone too many times.
I did look inside a few of them. Some didn't even internally pip, some did. none of them externally pipped. I'm sure it was human error and I did something along the way during the hatch or during lockdown. It's hard to say. I don't know enough to really tell what happened.

Are all the veins gone from the one egg now? No movement? If you're worried it may not be dead then I'm sure leaving it is fine. I left all mine until all the healthy ones hatched.

I second that! I was worried about two eggs being dead at day 21 and one was the first to hatch! The other one was a quitter but quit yesterday so they must've just been going slow that day. It was at the point when the egg gets blacked out and you can't se any movement, a tricky time to judge viability!

 

[graypes]

My fingers are crossed for the fourth little guy! I hope he hangs in there!

Sorry for the one you lost as well. It's always sad.

I assisted with one of my ducklings hatching last year. Took such a long time for her to come out and she was smaller than all the other ducklings. Very worn out for a few days. But now she is full grown and runs around outside with all the others and just started laying eggs.
I hope for this for your little one!

Oh I'm so happy to hear your runt is doing well!

Tiny Soprano was so so so lethargic for 24 hours I didn't think he'd make it through the night, but today he has what I know some may refer to as the "zoomies" and is torpedoing around the brooder hopping on top of everything and everyone inside in addition to being my sweet little runt Tiny has a bit of a bent toe situation but regardless he's doing kick flips and everything! I tried making him a little therapeutic shoe now that he lived to see another day but he's just too fast so it flings across the room like s*** off a fan lololol

 

[JoJoM]

I second that! I was worried about two eggs being dead at day 21 and one was the first to hatch! The other one was a quitter but quit yesterday so they must've just been going slow that day. It was at the point when the egg gets blacked out and you can't se any movement, a tricky time to judge viability!

Yes, all the veins appear to have receded and its like a dark blob floating around. I'll try to to get a picture later when it's darker.

 

[JoJoM]

It’s hard to tell in the picture, but I’m fairly certain this one has died. You can see how there are no more veins. It’s sad, i don’t like losing them this far along. I won’t open it, I can’t bring myself to look. Fingers crossed for the rest.

 

[graypes]

It’s hard to tell in the picture, but I’m fairly certain this one has died. You can see how there are no more veins. It’s sad, i don’t like losing them this far along. I won’t open it, I can’t bring myself to look. Fingers crossed for the rest.

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yeah I'm far from an expert but I agree it looks like a quitter what a bummer this far along! How many eggs do you have left?

 

[graypes]

also what incubator and temp humidity/do you have a separate thermometer hygrometer? My first hatching experience with turkeys last year was really upsetting and this year I realized it's because the temp in my incubator run 5º higher than the built in thermometer says and no matter what humidity its at it always reports "50%"

Also I know this is such a controversial opinion, BUT I washed all my eggs and sanitized them (washed remaining cleaning products off my eggs after before setting them) and my hatch has gone pretty well so far, save for humidity problems of course. Idk tho it doesn't seem like bacteria is the cause of death in that egg but again I have no clue what I'm talking about.

 

[graypes]

I still have 8 going strong, the one that quit was progressing well, I hadn’t noted anything unusual along the way.

8 is great! I know its frustrating and disappointing and worrying to lose eggs along the way so close to lock down but on the upside you have 8 more leading up to lockdown, I'm sure they're gonna do great. Just make sure heat and humidity are okay in the incubator and maybe look and see if there's a trend in the quitters, like were they all in one area in the incubator? that could point to things like cold spots in the Bator! Hang in there!

 

[JoJoM]

8 is great! I know its frustrating and disappointing and worrying to lose eggs along the way so close to lock down but on the upside you have 8 more leading up to lockdown, I'm sure they're gonna do great. Just make sure heat and humidity are okay in the incubator and maybe look and see if there's a trend in the quitters, like were they all in one area in the incubator? that could point to things like cold spots in the Bator! Hang in there!

I have a cheap amazon/Chinese incubator. I have 2 hygrometers and two thermometers in it so I’m pretty confident with the temps. The humidity can be a little hard but Ive kept it much more consistent than I was able to with the chicks. Some of the eggs were pretty dirty. I did my best to scrape it off dry but they were far from clean so bacteria could definitely be a culprit too. Good point about cool spots, I actually shifted the eggs all around today and I may keep that up til lockdown. I’ll be happy with 8 for sure. Heck, I’ll be happy with 4 since that’s all I really have room for.

Thank you so much! So grateful for this hatch a long

 

[AAcres]

also what incubator and temp humidity/do you have a separate thermometer hygrometer? My first hatching experience with turkeys last year was really upsetting and this year I realized it's because the temp in my incubator run 5º higher than the built in thermometer says and no matter what humidity its at it always reports "50%"

Also I know this is such a controversial opinion, BUT I washed all my eggs and sanitized them (washed remaining cleaning products off my eggs after before setting them) and my hatch has gone pretty well so far, save for humidity problems of course. Idk tho it doesn't seem like bacteria is the cause of death in that egg but again I have no clue what I'm talking about.

my humidity in the built in hygrometer always reads 48%. I have a Little Giant bator.
so I rely on the one I put in there!

not sure what you all are using for thermometers but this year I bought one of those reptile ones from a pet store with the probe and it’s completely accurate.

I didn’t wash any eggs either @JoJoM
I had one egg that didn’t make it through the first week and it was pretty darn dirty.

I go into lockdown on Thursday. is lock down humidity suppose to be 55 or 65? I can’t remember!