Why can't I hatch ducks?

[TennesseeTruly]

Right now I have about 60 to 70 duck eggs in my incubators. Some are due to hatch on the 20th some on the 26th some on the 28th, and some on the 31st. All are developing nicely. The ones due on the 20th are already pipped into the air cell.

Laurie

 

[chickenlittle32]

I use the dry method and still hatch duck eggs...even wood duck eggs....

 

[CityChicker]

Quote:
If I were you then, I would probably leave your humidity as is for now and see what happens. I would probably gently rinse the one that has not lost enough weight to see if that helps it lose enough moisture before hatch. Barring that, you might also just spritz it a couple times a day with water to see if you can get it caught up with the others. Usually, 35% is too low (would be for here in my environment), but not always. If the air cells are not large enough, you are having the opposite problem so definitely do not add moisture. These numbers quoted are only a guideline. Always defer to the appearance of the air cells and the weight.

Eggs that have been washed also lose much more weight than those that haven't, hence requiring more humidity. In your situation, you can use this to your advantage. That is why I suggested rinsing it or starting to spritz it with water. I have started doing that with individual eggs that have not lost enough moisture and it has worked wonderfully several times now.

 

[CityChicker]

Quote:
If I were you then, I would probably leave your humidity as is for now and see what happens. I would probably gently rinse the one that has not lost enough weight to see if that helps it lose enough moisture before hatch. Barring that, you might also just spritz it a couple times a day with water to see if you can get it caught up with the others. Usually, 35% is too low (would be for here in my environment), but not always. If the air cells are not large enough, you are having the opposite problem so definitely do not add moisture. These numbers quoted are only a guideline. Always defer to the appearance of the air cells and the weight.

Eggs that have been washed also lose much more weight than those that haven't, hence requiring more humidity. In your situation, you can use this to your advantage. That is why I suggested rinsing it or starting to spritz it with water. I have started doing that with individual eggs that have not lost enough moisture and it has worked wonderfully several times now.

 

[Grey Bird Farm]

I had 3 lovely little ducklings hatch from my 5 eggs and a 4th that pipped and died... so it worked out quite well. They went to a friend's farm and have a wonderful life

Thanks for all of the help. I have 5 drk campbells in the bator now and am crossing my fingers again

These ones are for me

 

[jrobertson]

i had lots of problems trying to hatch anything when going by the recommended humidity. i think some of it is based on your location and climate temp. i live in nw al. i was having lots of birds go full term and pip but die in the egg. i think that the relative high humidity was causing the embryos to get chubby and not be able to turn in the shell to continue hatching. but anyway, i started "dry hatching." i do not put any water in the humidity tray until lockdown. then i fill the tray full and watch them hatch. the air cells are huge but everything hatches fine and the duklings are hardy and vigorous. i have since started doing everything this way and it has worked so far with chickens, ducks, geese, guineas, and turkeys. i've got my first quail eggs in the bator now, so we'll see how that goes. i don't trust the hygrometers to be dead on but use them as more of a "ballpark" than the rule. hope this helps.

 

[Grey Bird Farm]

My eggs now are dry hatching which I haven't tried before but the air cells look spot on for the day of developement that the eggs are on. I did have one blood ring on an egg that I checked last night but I had dropped a hand mixer on it and damaged the shell but not the membrane so there was wax all over it. Still have 4 campbell eggs going strong with embryonic movement and size appropriate air cells

Here's hoping!


Quote:

 

[CityChicker]

It just boils down to the fact that every hatch has to be treated on an individual basis with the recommended temps/levels just as a guideline. Always defer to the air cell size or weight. You just have to. This has been such a strange year to begin with. I swore I would never do dry hatches because usually we need relatively high humidity here. Guess what. This year I have had to do several dry hatches and had some eggs that STILL did not dehydrate enough. I am not sure why other than perhaps the weather, which was so odd this year. I can find no other really plausible explanation (for us personally) as everything else has pretty much been the same.

 

[Wifezilla]

Colorado has been so humid this year I can't imagine how confused hatchers must be right now...LOL
I have had such poor results from my incubator I just let one of my ducks do it now