hatching duck eggs

[pondskater]

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum and hatching duck eggs so wonder if anyone can help with a question. I have hatched chicks successfully so thought I would try ducks this time. I obtained a mix of Rouen clair and Saxony hatching eggs and set them off. While checking the size of air sack on day 24 prior to moving them into the hatcher on day 25 I found 3 beaks already in the air sacks and on day 26 6 of the eggs hatched producing healthy ducklings. Nothing then happened for 3 days when 4 more perfectly healthy ducklings arrived. Is it normal for the hatch to split like that? or if not what causes it?

 

[chrismahon]

Was it the different breeds that split Pondskater? It is all down to the porosity of the egg shell when the air sack forms. From what I can gather, hatching duck eggs is very difficult and 50% hatch rate is a good result. You may also have temperature variations within the incubator and the warmer areas will hatch first, sometimes early. Cooler areas can give you a hatch 3 days late.

 

[pondskater]

I don't think it was the different breeds as i had both colours in both batches but as it's a 25 year old still-air incubator the temperature variant could be the problem. I don't have a problem with chicks but maybe ducks are more at risk, i will keep an eye on that next time, thanks