What's wrong with my eggs......

[WVduckchick]

Its not the air cells that are bothering me its the space at the bottom of the egg at the point. They all seem to be different, 3 are shadowed and the rest let various amounts of light througj.Ok will do that. And push humidity up to 75%?

Ideally, they should fill up the pointy end too. Some chicks/ducklings don't, and they hatch a little extra wet and gooey. The second set of pictures definitely looks better to me than the first. I'd leave those where they are, and increase humidity to about 65-70%, 2 or 3 days before the due date. If the clear area in the pointy end is still there when you lock down, just watch for extra gooey-ness when they hatch.

And did you mean those eggs were the first ones the girls ever laid? Sometimes young layers take a few days to weeks to get their eggs consistent. Yolks are sometimes smaller, or larger, etc, so early eggs are a gamble anyway.

 

[chickens really]

Yep....I aim for 60%
Best wishes!

 

[Meg Muir]

Yes I set 18 in the incubator after collecting the 2nd week they were laying. So it was a bit of a gamble anyways.
Thanks so much, will turn the eggs for the last time tonight and then put them on lockdown. All 16 of these are full of movement and do look much better than 1st clutch. Thanks again!!

 

[chickens really]

Pictures once hatched please! Need a Baby fix....
Best wishes!

 

[WVduckchick]

Yes I set 18 in the incubator after collecting the 2nd week they were laying. So it was a bit of a gamble anyways.
Thanks so much, will turn the eggs for the last time tonight and then put them on lockdown. All 16 of these are full of movement and do look much better than 1st clutch. Thanks again!!

Excellent! Good luck!

Pictures once hatched please! Need a Baby fix....
Best wishes!

Yes x2!

 

[Meg Muir]

@WVduckchick how do you check if the ducklings have broken through the aircell of bator is on lockdown?

 

[chickens really]

You shine a flashlight down through to the egg...I wait till I see the first pip hole...It takes hours and many rests from pip to zip......Good luck....

 

[WVduckchick]

You can only see an internal pip by candling. But if your light is good enough, you can sometime get the right angle to shine thru the window and see into the eggs.

I don't do "lockdown", I do "crank up the humidity" lol My incubator recovers humidity very quickly, so i open it all thru hatch. Those old scare tactics freak people out.

 

[Meg Muir]

Ah I see. Ok I get it.

 

[DwayneNLiz]

Hello all, I have been incubating muscovy duck eggs in a DIY still air incubator and hand turning them, it is my first rodeo with muscovy eggs but not with incubation. I just don't seem to be getting it right. We are on day 38 now and it seems like the ducks have not developed as far as they should have. I am not seeing any movement in the eggs anymore so worried they have all given up on me. Here are a few pics of what I am seeing. Can anyone give me some pointers? Do I hang in there and just wait for those eggs to blow up? Or start over? I cracked open an egg which has had no movement for almost a week and found a fully developed duckling but yolk sack was not absorbed and he was totally lifeless. Some of the eggs have developed grey shadows in the air cell, not sure what that means.....View attachment 1140774 View attachment 1140775

unfortunately they do look like quitters, you can tell because where the inner membrane meets the aircell there are no veins, they have receded

Both of those look like quitters to me, I'm sorry. I could be mistaken, but I don't see any blood vessels.
The first one maybe made it a little over half way, the 2nd a little further, in my opinion.

Being a homemade incubator, is it possible you had a temperature spike along the way? Did you test your meters - Thermometer and Hygrometer? Without a fan, there can be hot and cool spots, I would test multiple areas for consistency.

very good information!!

These are some eggs from another incubator with the exact same setup as first incubator just put in one week later than the first batch. The first batch was literally the first clutch of eggs k got from my ducks but took them away because we had a cold front coming through and none of the ducks were remotely interested in sitting. These all still have movement when I candle, 3 of them look to be a little further along than the rest and according to my calendar I have to stop turning tomorrow. Should I move these eggs to other incubator to prepare for hatch? And leave the ones a little behind in their own bator? The 3 in question have very little space at the bottom of the egg where some of the others clearly light up.View attachment 1142590 View attachment 1142589 View attachment 1142588

these look much better! leave them in this bator, by chance did you sponge or mist them at all? it helps to get cleaner hatches

I will recandle tonight but there are definitely blood vessels in those eggs.

@BantyChooks do you have the comparison pics of dead/live candling??

Its not the air cells that are bothering me its the space at the bottom of the egg at the point. They all seem to be different, 3 are shadowed and the rest let various amounts of light througj.Ok will do that. And push humidity up to 75%?

75% is a little on the high side, i wouldnt worry about the light at the bottom it looks like it had an incomplete CAM

Yes I set 18 in the incubator after collecting the 2nd week they were laying. So it was a bit of a gamble anyways.
Thanks so much, will turn the eggs for the last time tonight and then put them on lockdown. All 16 of these are full of movement and do look much better than 1st clutch. Thanks again!!

@WVduckchick how do you check if the ducklings have broken through the aircell of bator is on lockdown?

candle will look like this: