Monitoring call duck egg weight loss during incubation

[fredwck]

So this is my second batch of a second attempt to hatch call duck eggs. They are significantly more difficult than others e.g. Pekins which had a near 100% hatch rate. The first batch of my second attempt I had 5 fertilised and only 2 hatched (40%) using a better incubator with humidity control, whereas my first attempt was like 1 of 10 fertilised (10%) using a less ideal incubator. Both can be quite spot on at 37.5C. This time I monitored the weight loss as I read it is probably the most significant determinant to success. Here's the plot.

The dotted lines were the first batch and the solid lines are the current second batch. As my kitchen scale was only to the nearest gram there are some inaccuracies. Basically only the green/red dotted line internally piped and both I had to assist in hatching. One of the black dotted line wobbled but never internally piped. I locked down early at D23 expecting a D26 hatch but didn't happen until D29. Humidity for this batch was set at 52% after gathering a variety of "guides" online and averaging the incubator's guidelines (45-55%). It seems true that only 16%+ weight loss by lockdown will hatch.

Unfortunately the red dotted line one was quite weak, didn't eat/drink well and didn't survive. It was also smaller than the green dotted line healthy one, possibly due to the abnormally large air sac quite early on.

Now the second batch (solid lines) I thought maybe better to increase overall weight loss so reduced to 45% at first. You can see that 1 egg loses much faster while 1 egg loses much slower akin to the black dotted lines. So I'm putting the fast weight losers in a second incubator with much higher humidity (70%+) to slow it down and the slow weight loser (#7) in the less ideal incubator with no water (~25%) to hopefully speed it up. Hope they can catch up with the green dotted line trend?

I also read in another thread people cool/mist eggs to help evaporation? I would've thought the external water evaporation helps cooling its temperature (like sweating) rather than humidity?

Anyway they are all healthy, clear vessels and swimming for both these batches during incubation. Any thoughts?

 

[casportpony]

I love that you're tracking their weight loss. What incubator did you use & what's your new one?

 

[fredwck]

I love that you're tracking their weight loss. What incubator did you use & what's your new one?

The two I'm currently using are from Brinsea, one had a pump for humidity control. The other is without pump but with an external trough for water input. Both rotate eggs automatically. The "less ideal" is a generic rectangular one that only has a temperature probe and a moving tray to rotate eggs. I've added extra monitors to double check.

 

[fredwck]

Concluding this thread, good news is this batch was 75% successful compared to previous 40% and 10%. This is the final plot and I've learnt a few things.

The ends of these lines represent when I put them into lockdown at 75-80% humidity without turning. #6 reached 16% weight loss early by D22 like the 1 that survived in the last batch but unfortunately I only checked all my locked down eggs for pipping on D27, maybe 5 days was too long and it did internally pip at some point. The 1 survivor from last batch also pipped on D27 (5 days) when I assisted so it's not clear. Shame, could've been 100%...?

I did assist #6 on D27 just in case it's not dead but found only it's feathered backside(?) from the air sac without its beak so maybe it was in a wrong orientation? or perhaps this early rapid weight loss was non-recoverable? I can't tell....

The other 3 only reach 13.5%-14.5% but they were the best. #4 and #7 externally pipped on D27 (2 days after lockdown) but since #5 was 3 days into lockdown and I saw internal pipping I decided to assist all 3 hoping not to compromise the membrane humidification of the other 2. It's rather consistent to the guidelines saying ideal 14% weight loss for waterfowl.

So what's interesting...

The fast weight losers (#5 and #6) managed to slow down from D10 in high (75-80%) humidity until it matches #4 in "reference" (50%) humidity (#5 on D15) or matches the previous batch's successful one (#6 on D20 vs green dotted) before putting back to 50% humidity. However these fast weight losers are rather difficult to pip and hatch. Both the green dotted successful one and #5 only internally pipped after 3 days of lockdown. I feel they all need assistance to come out.

Ok this is even more interesting...

#7 was on the path of the 10% slow weight losers so from D8 it was in an incubator with no supplementary water with humidity at 20%. Still struggled to evaporate so I tried on the odd days spraying and cooling it at room temp. I even accidentally left it overnight at room temp on D18-19. I thought I killed it. It hatched OK and is quite active and strong. Maybe a dehydrator can help...??

I even forgot to put the water line in the "reference" incubator one night and it dropped to 36% but didn't affect #4 drastically.

It seems incubation humidity can vary extremely as required to reach the critical weight loss range on lockdown by D22-D25.

A summary table:

Some photos:

#7, #5 and #4

red dotted, green dotted

 

[theprov31gal]

This helped me immensely. Thank you for doing this.
I'm currently having a humidity issue due to weather , and this batch is not losing weight.
I've begun running a dehumidifier beside the incubator with the plugs out , we'll see what happens.