Backyard Poultry Forum

First attempt at incubation.

Bought an incubator for my wife for Christmas to increase our chook flock and she pays a visit to her cousin and comes home with 12 fertile duck eggs. only 6 fitted in the incubator so being a beekeeper I put the others in my honey warmer. The Incubator was auto turned by rolling, the honey warmer I manually turned through 45* either side of vertical. At lockdown day 25, I put them all in the incubator. Day 27/8 5 hatched - 4 from the honey warmer batch and one from the incubator lot. Today is day 29. One egg did not set so of the remaining 6, 2 are doubtful and 2 I can see what looks like heat beats. One has an external pip at the narrow end which is down ( all eggs are standing air sack up in an egg carton)

Where to from here? Keep waiting? there appears to be internal piping but not the ones with heart beats. What do I do with the pointy end piped egg?

Invert the malpositioned egg.
Increase the humidity with whatever means you can.
Duck need high humidity to soften the water-resistant shell and membrane.
The carton would be competing with the eggs for the avalkable moisture.
A rolled up wet towel or sponge.
If placed under a vent hole, it could be charged without opening.

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bobpeel@greatlander.com.au

If the malpositioned egg shows no progress, you may need to intervene.
The admin members on BYP Incubation are good at giving midwifery advice. Me, I'm electrics and engineering.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/bypincubation/?ref=bookmarks

Cheers.

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bobpeel@greatlander.com.au

Thanks for advise so far. Inverted the malpositioned egg - the hole was bigger and immediately a beak started pecking at it from inside and peeping. Have been spraying the eggs a couple of times a day - humidity is at 83-85% Should I block the vent hole to get it higher?

Opening to spray is counter-productive.
The humidity is airborne.
The gas molecules are travelling at breakneck velocities.
Opening lets them out.
Better to provide a means of maintaining the RH with it closed.
83-85% is within where you want to be - don't block the vents.

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bobpeel@greatlander.com.au

The malpositioned one may have difficulty/room to make its 360 turn.
If it does not progress by this evening, it will need assisting.
The best place get that advice is from the health professionals on BYP Inc.
Sue55 on here is also one of those.

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bobpeel@greatlander.com.au

Agree, don't open to spray.

How many hours ago do you think the duckling pipped at the wrong end? It most likely will need help to hatch but do not rush to help. Repeat: Do not rush to help! As long as it can breathe it will be ok for a while. I have had ducklings pip at the wrong end (a fair bit, actually) and I have found that most likely these duckings need to wait 60-72 hours after pipping before you try to help (2.5 to 3 days). That seems like a long time but pipping at the wrong end is the same as pipping the inner membrane...even though it has made a hole in the shell the duckling is nowhere near as advanced as a duckling that has pipped the shell at the fat end.

When you say you can see heart beats with two of them - can you describe exactly what you are seeing? Are you seeing veins pulsing?

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Cheerio, Rach
Blue Swedish Ducks

Also, with eggs that pip at the wrong end I just lie then on their sides (that is how I incubate all the eggs...). But if you can't lie the egg on its side I agree that pointy end up is the next best thing.

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Cheerio, Rach
Blue Swedish Ducks

Hi Wambatalso - love the honey warmer approach - that's my kind of thinking
Rach is the duck hatching expert so follow her advice.
If you can keep the humidity in the 80's (min) that will be good. Depending on your incubator you can thread a straw thru the vent hole and use a syringe to top up the water (use hand hot water).
Duck eggs are notoriously difficult to hatch, (you started at the deep end) and my limited experience is that the hatch tends to draw out for longer than when under a duck. Don't open the incubator, not even to remove a duckling if you can avoid it. Once they hatch they will be sustained by the yolk for a good 48 hours.
Keep the updates coming.

Rach - I think it is heart beat. - when I candle the dark mass is irregular around the bottom of the air sac and there is a small bump against the shell at the air sack /dark mass border and it is pulsating with a regular beat - same in two shells.

I’d say that what you’re describing is the duckling’s bill that has broken into the air cell You can see the shadow of it moving as the duckling breathes.

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Cheerio, Rach
Blue Swedish Ducks

Another new duckling this morning - still drying out.

So any idea how long till it will pip?

Between 24 to 48 hours after breaking into the air cell - on average around 30 hours is normal (I used to record that kind of thing until I got slack... ).

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Cheerio, Rach
Blue Swedish Ducks