What am I doing wrong, Incubating eggs

[Fisherlmiranda]

So its kinda a long story. I had a hen duck get taken by a raccoon. And I was really upset, so we decided to incubate the last 3 eggs we collected from her. I dont wash them and they sit on my counter on a egg skitter. Not having the extra cash to buy one. We YouTubed a DIY incubator and using a foam cooler, a light bulb socket, a dimmer switch, and a piece of glass we threw one together for free! Bought a little temp and humidity gauge. Put in a bowl of water and a light bulb. Ran it and fittled with the setup till it was reading 99.5° and 60% humidity. Then put the 3 eggs in. Day 6 candling, revealed one dint work and the other 2 had the spider veins. So all went well till day 18, we had our first warm day in ohio. I opened all the windows, and the next time I went to turn the eggs...103°. I candled them that night and no movement. They were dead. So then i gathered eggs for the next 10 days. Following instructions for gathering hatching eggs. Putting them in the incubator after warming it up for 24hr. On day 6 i candled them. 1 was a dud. So down to 9 eggs. Next candling on day 12, two more were not moving. Now here we are on day 19, two more are dead and not moving. I'm turning the eggs after washing my hands 4 times a day. At this rate I'm afraid none will hatch, I've only got 5 of 10 left. What am I doing wrong? I'd really like to hatch out some ducklings because I'm down to 1 hen and 1 drake after losing the one to a coon. I have a cayuga and a runner duckling. But my adult ducks are Welsh harlequin, they are my favorite and I'm trying to make a comeback after losing that one. She was a silver Welsh and so beautiful. My one I have left is a gold welsh and shes pretty, but man I miss seeing those blue green feathers of the silver. We also lost a welsh drake to a hawk. It's been a learning curve last few months!

 

[J. At ChicChalet]

That's a bummer about your ducks. I have always had better hatching keeping the tempature at 98-99 and the humidity of about 68%.

Hope this helps
J.

 

[Ladybird CA]

duck eggs are hard to hatch. I've read that they need to be misted, and candling them often helps because ducks get off the nest more often than chickens do. Were you turning them three times a day? Does your thermometer give you the highest and lowest readings of the day? Is the incubator in a place where there are no drafts? For a still air incubator it is usually recommended the temp be 101-102, and circulated air 99-100, so I wonder if the incubator was higher than 103 at some point but just cooled down to 103 by the time you saw it.

 

[Fisherlmiranda]

duck eggs are hard to hatch. I've read that they need to be misted, and candling them often helps because ducks get off the nest more often than chickens do. Were you turning them three times a day? Does your thermometer give you the highest and lowest readings of the day? Is the incubator in a place where there are no drafts? For a still air incubator it is usually recommended the temp be 101-102, and circulated air 99-100, so I wonder if the incubator was higher than 103 at some point but just cooled down to 103 by the time you saw it.

I'm following these instructions. Except the humidity because I've heard any where from 50 to 65%. Theres no fan in the incubator. So that means it's a still air? So I should be keeping it higher than 99.5°?

 

[Fisherlmiranda]

Here's the instructions I'm following

 

[Ladybird CA]

yes you have a still air. I would say yes increase to 101 since you could have a temp spike, although with a homemade incubator I dont know if the dimmer switch will be able to keep it right at that temp? The temp recommendations I read were for Hovabators so I'm not sure if the same applies for all still air incubators. Also are your ducks closely related? My muscovies had fertility issues, we got them as ducklings but weren't told of their parentage, they may have been siblings which is the worst breeding combo. Out of about 20 eggs I had only one develop halfway and died, the rest were clear

 

[Fisherlmiranda]

yes you have a still air. I would say yes increase to 101 since you could have a temp spike, although with a homemade incubator I dont know if the dimmer switch will be able to keep it right at that temp? The temp recommendations I read were for Hovabators so I'm not sure if the same applies for all still air incubators. Also are your ducks closely related? My muscovies had fertility issues, we got them as ducklings but weren't told of their parentage, they may have been siblings which is the worst breeding combo. Out of about 20 eggs I had only one develop halfway and died, the rest were clear

That is a good question we went to a farm and just got the 4 ducks so I dont know

 

[Fisherlmiranda]

I just now realize there is an incubation thread, maybe I should post there lol