Too soon?

[Swalla]

I had 18 mallard eggs incubating- forced air-temp 99.5, humidity ranges bw 40-50%. On day 24 (thursday) I had 8 externally pip. After candling, the rest seemed to still show movement, some had internally pipped. Day 25 would of been Friday. So Thursday night, I went ahead & put all 18 on lockdown -temp 99.5, humidity 70%. I only have 6 that hatched, 2 that externally pipped but no progress since Thursday night. Should I candle the rest? They showed movement on Thursday but nothing since. Should I candle the 2 that pipped? Also wondering if I shouldn’t have put the others that didn’t pip on lockdown until day 25 (Friday), would that make them die if I did it a day to early?

 

[Mellowmalt]

I have no experience with mallard ducks but generally lockdown is done several days before they start pipping so they can set themselves in the right position.
From what you are describing they were already past that stage and beginning to pip when you started lockdown.

If they were ahead on their develoment to the schedule you thought they would have it would indicate that your incubator was running hotter than it was showing and this could aso explain you losing some that were still alive till then. High heat gets more detrimental the older and more developed the eggs get.

 

[Swalla]

I have no experience with mallard ducks but generally lockdown is done several days before they start pipping so they can set themselves in the right position.
From what you are describing they were already past that stage and beginning to pip when you started lockdown.

If they were ahead on their develoment to the schedule you thought they would have it would indicate that your incubator was running hotter than it was showing and this could aso explain you losing some that were still alive till then. High heat gets more detrimental the older and more developed the eggs get.

Yes they seem to be pipping sooner than they should. I will turn the temp down (it’s a preset incubator) & see if that helps with my next batch. I just did an eggtopsy & 3 were fully developed & did an internal pip but no external. So I guess they died after that.