Weak hatch ducklings !

[Ducksmom]

Here I’m trying to hatch some Welsh and Welsh /Swedish for someone, using the eggs for my ducks that are 1 year now. I never had a hatch so complicated.. from 14 eggs, 3 ducklings died before hatching and all of them were Welsh. The eggs were fresh and clean, the hens have a good quality of food and threads, water changed 4 times /day. The incubator is a Bator and keep the humidity and temperature ( used 2 hydrometer and 3 thermometers). However, I used the one with the turner( I have with turner but I did not like how it turns). I’m thinking that either the hens are too young, or they were weak due to inbreeding. I hatched them from eggs bought from Purely Poultry last year around the same time. Another thing could be the hot weather, so the hens may not have ate as normal. Any thoughts?

 

[nchls school]

Some times things just go wrong and there's no figuring why.

Age? No. Most ducks mature around 20-25 weeks; yours are well past that.

Inbreeding? Is possible but... Buying your original eggs from purely poultry who likely have a fair number of breeders and send only fresh eggs precludes the possibility of getting eggs from the same hen.

More and more I feel weather influences hatches under broodies and in incubators.
My last six hatches of serama bantam produced only four chicks (extremely hot and humid here) where before, hatches were near 100%-same birds.

Before tossing in the towel with your ducks, try again, in an incubator or under a brooding duck and watch the results. Should the same happen again consider getting a new drake/s. Early this spring I had problems with chicks DIS during incubation. With a new rooster that did not happen.

I am especially interested in what happens with your ducks as I have a Call duck pair who should be nesting soon. They come from the same source so inbreeding is a possibility even though the eggs came from a varied flock.

Please keep posting.

 

[nchls school]

When you try again, I'd suggest turning by hand. After dealing a number of times with faulty turners I stopped using a turner. Since then, I've stopped using incubators almost completely. Better to get a few chicks, ducklings, poults from a few eggs than few, or nothing, from a lot of eggs.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

What temp and humidity did you have your incubator set at? Did you cool and mist after day 10? What day did you start turning? I also agree with the above on hand turning. I hand turn mine and have awesome hatch rates (last hatch was 100%).

 

[Ducksmom]

Thank you all for your replies. Temperature was study 99.5 and humidity 55-60 during incubation. Raised to 80% during hatching. This is my third duck hatching with the same settings but eggs from my own ducks this time. Now , I think that could be the drake that has been also weak when he hatched the last year. He does has Niacin issues once in a while, so I had to buy Niacin as the Brewer Yeast was not very effective on him. I attached a picture of the new hatched in their « hospital « brooder

 

[Ducksmom]

Just received my new incubator. I’m done with the small ones. I’m raising ducks as hobby and I should get soon some Hookbill duck eggs, so I’m not taking any chances to mess them up. The Bator worked well for me until now..I still believe that it was something wrong with my eggs.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Just received my new incubator. I’m done with the small ones. I’m raising ducks as hobby and I should get soon some Hookbill duck eggs, so I’m not taking any chances to mess them up. The Bator worked well for me until now..I still believe that it was something wrong with my eggs.

I'm about to upgrade my incubator to a cabinet as well. I hatched my original Hookbills out of a Nurture Right 360, but for whatever reason I'm extra paranoid about messing up the eggs that I'm now getting from my original hatch I still haven't decided whether to get a Sportsman 1502 or a Brinsea Ova Easy II

 

[Ducksmom]

I'm about to upgrade my incubator to a cabinet as well. I hatched my original Hookbills out of a Nurture Right 360, but for whatever reason I'm extra paranoid about messing up the eggs that I'm now getting from my original hatch I still haven't decided whether to get a Sportsman 1502 or a Brinsea Ova Easy II

Both are well known. I like this one as is made by hand individually and you can do both, incubate and hatching for cheaper than other brands. It was also on sale and the shipping was included.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Both are well known. I like this one as is made by hand individually and you can do both, incubate and hatching for cheaper than other brands. It was also on sale and the shipping was included.

I have never heard of Rite Farm Products before, but now I'm going to look them up!

Edit: I just looked them up and now I'm going to order the same unit!

 

[Ducksmom]

Don’t blame me if you don’t like it