Balancing Ventilation and Temp on day 28 runner duck hatch - NO PIPS OR ZIPS

[RunnerMamaNewby]

Hello, this is my first time incubating and we have 4 runner duck eggs on day 28.
I've been keeping my temp at 98-99 and humidity between 65-80.
I know I should have my ventilation holes fully open but when I do that, the temp drops drastically and can't come back up .

I currently have it all the way open with a blanket partially and loosely shielding it to slow the heat escaping.

But the eggs haven't even pipped yet. Should I take the blanket off and gamble with the temp?

What am I doing wrong?

 

[Corbdee]

It can take a few days after "hatch day" for an action to happen, don't give up on them. Go ahead and bump temp up to 99.5-100F; during the first 25 days it should be at 99.5. Do you mean the vent holes are open or the incubator? Assuming you mean vent holes but don't open the incubator during lockdown. I usually use towels over my incubator to stabilize temps, so that should help, but I wouldn't cover all the holes, just partially like you said.
Do you have a calibrated hygrometer and thermometer in the incubator? Temps being too low during earlier parts of incubation can produce slower hatches.

 

[RunnerMamaNewby]

Thank you! Yes I meant vent holes. Whenever I opened the vent holes to increase ventilation the temp would drop drastically and couldn't heat back up all the way. But I will keep the vent holes partially covered to help stabilize and cross my fingers

It can take a few days after "hatch day" for an action to happen, don't give up on them. Go ahead and bump temp up to 99.5-100F; during the first 25 days it should be at 99.5. Do you mean the vent holes are open or the incubator? Assuming you mean vent holes but don't open the incubator during lockdown. I usually use towels over my incubator to stabilize temps, so that should help, but I wouldn't cover all the holes, just partially like you said.
Do you have a calibrated hygrometer and thermometer in the incubator? Temps being too low during earlier parts of incubation can produce slower hatches.

It can take a few days after "hatch day" for an action to happen, don't give up on them. Go ahead and bump temp up to 99.5-100F; during the first 25 days it should be at 99.5. Do you mean the vent holes are open or the incubator? Assuming you mean vent holes but don't open the incubator during lockdown. I usually use towels over my incubator to stabilize temps, so that should help, but I wouldn't cover all the holes, just partially like you said.
Do you have a calibrated hygrometer and thermometer in the incubator? Temps being too low during earlier parts of incubation can produce slower hatches.

 

[Corbdee]

Thank you! Yes I meant vent holes. Whenever I opened the vent holes to increase ventilation the temp would drop drastically and couldn't heat back up all the way. But I will keep the vent holes partially covered to help stabilize and cross my fingers

Keep me posted! Hope it goes well.

 

[RunnerMamaNewby]

It looks like all of them have pipped! And one is trying to start a zip it is day 29. I have a blanket partially covering the vent hole, the water resivoir completely full, and put a wet washcloth in there to help keep humidity up. But even with that I can only get the humidity to consistently be at 71%.