Why aren’t our ducklings hatching?

[TuckH100]

We incubated three shipped eggs in a Rcom pro mini last summer. Two of the three hatched (the other wasn’t fertile). We didn’t do anything special, we just set it to the duck program and topped up the water reservoir when it got low.

We have tried incubating our own eggs this summer (same incubator and same method). The first batch of three - two got to lockdown then died and didn’t hatch and the third died about halfway through incubation. The second batch of three - one had died when we candled it before we put them into lockdown and the other two were still alive when going into lockdown. One hatched but the other never did. Unfortunately the one that hatched died 3 days later.

What are we doing wrong? Could it be something wrong with the eggs?

 

[Emelyn]

We incubated three shipped eggs in a Rcom pro mini last summer. Two of the three hatched (the other wasn’t fertile). We didn’t do anything special, we just set it to the duck program and topped up the water reservoir when it got low.

We have tried incubating our own eggs this summer (same incubator and same method). The first batch of three - two got to lockdown then died and didn’t hatch and the third died about halfway through incubation. The second batch of three - one had died when we candled it before we put them into lockdown and the other two were still alive when going into lockdown. One hatched but the other never did. Unfortunately the one that hatched died 3 days later.

What are we doing wrong? Could it be something wrong with the eggs?

Maybe humidity?

 

[cheezenkwackers]

I was going to say the same thing. Too high of humidity, which can be your natural summer humidity, can do what you described. Are you incubating dry or adding water?

 

[TuckH100]

This is what my thinking was. The weather has been very warm.

We’ve been adding water.

I have bought a hygrometer and am just waiting for it arrive, and I’m going to do some experimenting with the incubator empty to see what the humidity is like.

Unfortunately the incubator doesn’t have a humidity reading, only temperature and naively I thought that it would be fine to do exactly what we did last time and it would be fine but then again we put them in at the end of May last time so the weather wasn’t as warm.

It’s just so gutting to get to the point of them nearly hatching then them dying

 

[Crazy Duck Lover]

Also, are you cleaning and sterilizing the incubator after each hatch? The eggs that die can produce bacteria that will happily live and spread in the incubator which can kill every egg you put in there unless you wash and sterilize it.