What possibly could have went wrong.

[Meca]

I donated 25 ducks eggs to my child's class to incubate. They candled them at day 10, six were clear so they discarded them all the rest were developing.

This past Wednesday was day 28 (their calculations Day 27 by mine.) and the eggs wiggled in the incubator. They threw the eggs away yesterday. They said it was day 32 Day 30 by mine. (I Can't confirm which days are correct.)

I asked about the humidity in the incubator and they said that theirs has no way to measure the humidity. But they kept the reservior full during the incubation period.

Is it possible that the babies were still a live even if it was day 32? Am I also wrong for thinking that the humidity inside the incubator probably needed to be raised to help with the hatching? And Am I wrong for thinking that the humidity level should have been at 40-50% during the first few weeks so that the moisture in the shell could evaporate and make room for the baby inside? And if it was too humid the babies may have drowned?

I personally have not hatched anything out but I would like to make sure that my understanding of it is correct. I was flat out told that I don't understand how incubation works and I have no clue how an incubator is set up.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I think you could be correct on all counts. I never give up on eggs. I've had several hatch that I thought were done.
If they don't have a way of measuring humidity then they don't know how incubation works.

I don't trust most hygrometers so I weigh eggs to test weight loss. It is the most accurate means of identifying correct humidity.

 

[HickoryHollow]

I donated 25 ducks eggs to my child's class to incubate. They candled them at day 10, six were clear so they discarded them all the rest were developing.

This past Wednesday was day 28 (their calculations Day 27 by mine.) and the eggs wiggled in the incubator. They threw the eggs away yesterday. They said it was day 32 Day 30 by mine. (I Can't confirm which days are correct.)

I asked about the humidity in the incubator and they said that theirs has no way to measure the humidity. But they kept the reservior full during the incubation period.

Is it possible that the babies were still a live even if it was day 32? Am I also wrong for thinking that the humidity inside the incubator probably needed to be raised to help with the hatching? And Am I wrong for thinking that the humidity level should have been at 40-50% during the first few weeks so that the moisture in the shell could evaporate and make room for the baby inside? And if it was too humid the babies may have drowned?

I personally have not hatched anything out but I would like to make sure that my understanding of it is correct. I was flat out told that I don't understand how incubation works and I have no clue how an incubator is set up.

I don't understand how somebody who "has no way to measure the humidity" can tell ANYBODY they "don't understand how incubation work"

 

[Meca]

So am I correct with my thinking on the humidity? I've been reading everything that I can so I would have a basic idea but I was told otherwise. So now I guess I am second guessing myself.

 

[sumi]

Quote: That is correct, yes. Too high humidity prevents adequate moisture loss from the egg and can cause build-up of fluid in the air cell that the pipping duckling can drown in. I've incubated duck eggs successfully at 40-50% humidity. Are the teachers aware that ducklings can take up to 3 days to hatch from first showing signs of getting started? They don't just pop out of the shells on hatch day. It's a lengthy process for waterfowl. Did they candle the eggs before tossing them, to check what's going on in there?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Or even open the egg after assuming it was done to find a live thriving embryo that will now die?

I hatched goose eggs recently. All but one hatched within a few hours, the last one took two days.

 

[Meca]

So if they would have hatched they shouldn't open the incubator to get the dried ducklings out?

None hatched, I am asking for my own personal information. I bought myself an incubator so I can hatch my own birds and it should be here today.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

It's best to keep the incubator closed until they're all out. Depends a lot on the incubator and ambient humidity. If you run a humidifier in a small space, it's less of an issue.

 

[sumi]

You can open the incubator to remove dried ducklings, but you need to be quick, so you don't lose too much humidity. This thread:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/594278/thread-formerly-known-as-hatch-day-is-today/0_30

has some fantastic info in it, but it's yeah long. What I did was search the thread for specific posts to get answers. When you have the thread open, look under the title, you'll see "Search This Thread", click on that and type in keywords to narrow down the posts with relevant info. Good luck with your hatch!

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I donated 25 ducks eggs to my child's class to incubate. They candled them at day 10, six were clear so they discarded them all the rest were developing.

This past Wednesday was day 28 (their calculations Day 27 by mine.) and the eggs wiggled in the incubator. They threw the eggs away yesterday. They said it was day 32 Day 30 by mine. (I Can't confirm which days are correct.)

Not all duck eggs are created equal, some need 35 days.

Others only require 28 days to hatch.