Numerous Incubator Questions

[grantly]

Hey, everybody. Haven't posted for a while, but I often lurk around to see what's going on. Anyway, as what happens every spring, a load of questions pop through my mind concerning hatching. I raise call ducks and bought one of the new style sportsman incubators last spring. Anyway here are some of my questions:
(1) I have heard that the needed humidity can be determined by the size of the air sac when candling. Is it true that the size of the air sac should be one third the size of the egg?
(2) In order to enlarge the air sac, should I spritz the eggs with water more often or should I add a wick pad to the water pan?
(3) Many people candle the eggs the day before hatching time to see if the bill has broken through the membrane, but I thought that you weren't supposed to mess with the eggs the last three days of hatching. Which is correct?
(4) Is it necessary to open the incubator and let the eggs cool each day? If it is necessary to let them cool, how long should I do that and should I shut the unit off while I do, or should I just open the door?
(5) Is it necessary to spritz the eggs every day?
(6) Often I have had ducklings die after starting the hatching process because the membranes dry on. How can I prevent that?
(7) I have a duck that lays abnormally shaped eggs. I have been told that these are never any good. How can I get her to lay normally shaped eggs?

Anyway, a load of questions, I know. I would appreciate good answers from all of you good breeders out there. Thanks a bunch in advance.

[grantly]

Anybody?????

[Hummer]

It's alot of questions at once but I'll attempt to answer a few :wink:. First let me qualify that you really need to understand your own incubator and humidity conditions. I have extremely high spring time humidity which might be different for someone else. With 16 inches of rain last week and a temperature in the mid 90's today I can tell you chores this afternoon will mostly likely be a little steamy!!!! LOL.

1) The air cell should be at 25-30% when the eggs are starting to pip internally. You just have to watch the progression during in the incubation process.

2) The eggs need to loose a certain amount of moisture during the incubation process in order for the ducklings to be able to turn around in the shell when it is time for them to start pipping. Adding too much humidity is what gets a lot of people into trouble when hatching waterfowl. Because of my high spring time humidity conditions I dry incubate my eggs...even the waterfowl. Now, that works for me but people need to understand their own humidity conditions before they assume it will work for them. As a rule of thumb the humidity during incubation should be around 55% RH and then you bump it up to maybe 65% RH in a hatcher. Shocking as it may be I have not taken a humidity reading in YEARS!!!! LOL. I watch the progress of the air cell as a gauge of humidity. About early June things typically start drying out and I might have to start adding a little moisture to the incubators.

3) Typically with the bantam ducks I wait until they start to pip externally before I move them to the hatcher. With the larger ducks and geese I move all the eggs once I see the first signs of pipping.

4) Personally, I don't cool the eggs down every day. Some people like to cool theirs down everyday since they have heard you are supposed to. Cooling the eggs down for unto 30 minutes a day is probabably not going to kill off the developing embroyees since they do retain some heat for a while.

5) Personally, I don't spritz the eggs every day. Some people like to help out so they do like to spritz the eggs every day. The only time I do any spritzing of eggs is after I handle the eggs or candle the eggs and that is with a small spritz bottle with dilute disinfectant that I keep in the incubator to keep it at the same temperature. Bacteria in the incubator is potentially more of a problem with waterfowl eggs and that I why I am diligant and spritzing with a disinfectant after I have handled the eggs.

6) The best way to keep the membranes from drying out during hatching is to keep the hatcher closed as much as possible. With the large ducks and geese typically I put them in the hatcher and open it only briefly for monitoring. The call ducks are a little different since they do need to be monitored a little more closely to watch their progress during hatching. It can take ducklings and goslings 24-48 hours to hatch and you do need to be patient. I have a friend that strongly feels those goslings and call ducklings need to be on his time schedule once he sees them pip and starts peeling them out like they were hardboiled eggs!!! Then he wonders why they are dead the next morning. After some firm mentoring he is trying to do better!!!:twisted:

Again, it is really important that people know their own conditions with incubators and hatchers. What works for some people might not work for other people with different environmental conditions. It is fine to listen to different techniques as long as you keep in mind your own conditions. Just because you read it somewhere on the internet does not necessarily mean it is absolute truth and will work for you ( added soapbox commentary). I recently had to sort through a problem with someone because all of their eggs just developed blood rings. Come to find out they were soaking the eggs in a pretty healthy BLEACH solution for 30 minutes to clean the eggs because they read that SOMEWHERE on the internet.

Hummer

[grantly]

Thanks a bunch for the reply. I realize different people have different situations, but I appreciate any input I can get.

[CindyS]

I also do not measure humidity, but watch temps closley. Most times if a duckling is stuck in the shell, its because of residual albumen, which will dry hard as a brick, on the duckling. The albumen should not be there and is the result of improper temperatures, which causes the duckling to be weak, and die in the shell after pipping or before, which, in the case of the pipped dead duckling, would appear as if the sticking to the shell has caused the death. In a normal hatch, the duckling is wet, and this normal wetness will not dry hard as a brick but just dry and allow the down to fluff up. I have misted waterfowl eggs for many years and it works for me. I think it actually helps with the evaporation process and cools the eggs slightly at the same time. The laying of abnormal eggs can be hereditary so even though they may hatch you could be passing on this trait. I dont see the need to ever add sponges or wicks to the incubator, unless you live in the desert.