White crested duck incubation day 27 help please...

[Amykins]

Ok I'm trying to stay hopeful for the others. I know white crested ducks have a high mortality rate, but still, I'm worried it's my fault. My temp has been 99-101 and humidity from 55-65. I do seem to have a difficult time maintaining the humidity at a constant number. During lockdown, I had the humidity fluctuating between 70-85. My temp was between 97-99. Is my temp and humidity fluctuating too much that it could cause harm?

85% is high, even for lockdown. I kept mine around 65% for hatch. But I don't think this is anything you did wrong. I hatched several batches of call ducks and a few of them died in the egg because, well, they're call ducks. :/ Did you work up the courage to eggtopsy the little one? If it's a sticky duckling then you do have a humidity issue, but I'm willing to bet it's just another tragedy you see all too often with raising crested ducks.

I'm so sorry for your loss, Inga.

 

[Inga123]

Thank you so much. I haven't worked up the courage all day to open the egg, I've been debating if I can handle seeing it. It's not the grossing out factor, more like I don't know if I can handle seeing the little beak and face lifeless . I think my spouse is going to help me by doing it with me in a minute. It seems like I'm getting alot of conflicting answers for the humidity during lockdown. For my next egg (that should hatch in about 7 days),I'm going to take your advice and try to keep it at 65. Thanks so much for your support and encouragement, it really does mean alot to me. Ok, here we go, we are going to open the egg I'll be updating...

 

[Amykins]

Thank you so much. I haven't worked up the courage all day to open the egg, I've been debating if I can handle seeing it. It's not the grossing out factor, more like I don't know if I can handle seeing the little beak and face lifeless

. I think my spouse is going to help me by doing it with me in a minute. It seems like I'm getting alot of conflicting answers for the humidity during lockdown. For my next egg (that should hatch in about 7 days),I'm going to take your advice and try to keep it at 65. Thanks so much for your support and encouragement, it really does mean alot to me. Ok, here we go, we are going to open the egg

I'll be updating...

I completely understand. I lost my precious baby Milkshake after just three days of life, and I still can't bring myself to look at the photos and video I took of her. You're super brave for attempting it, and if you do find it's sticky, then that will better help you save the others. Good luck hun, and remember, we're all here to support you.

 

[Inga123]

Ok i opened the egg. It appeared to be developed normal to me. I took pics but didnt want to post them without forwarning anyone. Im guessing it was sticky and wet. But its my first time hatching eggs so i guess i dont really know what to look for. It seems only normal that if i open an egg, itll be wet. No? Well i have pics if you want to take a look and see if you can maybe figure out what happened?

 

[Amykins]

You'll know if it was sticky, trust me. The egg will be filled with icky stuff the color and consistency of rubber cement!

 

[Inga123]

Ok, my spouse says no it wasnt like that. There was stickiness on it though. But i wouldnt say like rubber cement. I just dont understand how he was doing so good and then this. Maybe it was just the breed

 

[Orca5094]

I would like to see the pics if you could post them. I find it interesting to analyze ones that don't make it out, to see if I can figure out what went wrong and if it's something that's possible to prevent in the future. Most of the time we'll just never know why they died or didn't develop fully, but sometimes you can see that the embryo got stuck to the side of the shell, or that the duckling was deformed in some way. We might not be able to tell what happened with your guy, but I'd still be interested to see.

How much of the shell did it fill? Did it look fully developed, or really small and scrawny? I know you are new to this, but you can also tell if they were malpositioned once you have some more experience seeing what they look like in there before you removed them from the shell. Was it's head tucked under a wing? Malpositions can also cause the embryos to die as well.

Still, so sorry about this one. I wish you lots of luck with the others!

 

[Inga123]

 

[Inga123]

 

[Inga123]