New (soon to be) duck dad! Muscovys! Need advice :D

[Bolfreak]

Thank you; I'm excited. I have a little area set up (see picture) for them - with a heating element in the box. might replace the sawdust with dog pee pads instead.

I also have Brewer's Yeast with Garlic powder and Niacin,
I have starter 'grit' (crushed quartzite / granite)
I have Manna Pro Duck Starter Grower Crumble

My plan was to mix the starter food with some water so it's soft, at least the first week or two

How should i put the niacin, and the starter grit? where do i put that?

Ritz Carlton brooder lol! We were a little more kuntry over here
If you have crumbles you should be fine, the first like two days I use a small water dish and sprinkle food around it inside the pan. But quickly they get messy and their food will always be gross. I don’t buy crumbles any more because a lot of it is dust. You can also float things in their water like greens, oatmeal or mealworms (when they’re at least a week old), they get excited about floaties and it teaches them duck behaviors. Grit put in a bowl off to the side, but if they’re eating crumbles and water they likely will ignore it. It’s when they get different kinds of food that they’ll need grit to help digest. Mine forage so much, they pick up little stones and all sorts of things, so I don’t ever buy grit.
Your yeast will have niacin in it, and your crumbles probably do, too. I would skip the yeast if the crumbles have niacin. I’m not sure about garlic for littles, a lot of onion/garlic/allium can cause anemia. Your vitamin water can be niacin in the water for when you dip their bill, but after that just plain water. Vitaminized water can grow bacteria quickly.
Ducklings are noisy! I don’t know that you’ll want them in your living room after five minutes maybe muscovies are quieter!
In the photo you can see what I did with the fruit cup bowl of water. That lasted about a day between goslings and ducklings. Then I just poured it into the compartment. Eventually I had only food on both sides but outside of the pan with no tip dog bowl for water. They learn to walk in and out quickly and contains the mess (a tiny bit). My current ducklings hatched by a turkey are ~20 days old and they eat food from the silver pan and drink water from the dog bowl, but this is in my barn and not in their sleeping area anymore- too much mess.

 

[ljmastercraft]

So I did commit the unforgivable this evening - I took the incubator cover off and briefly (without moving the eggs) candled them - total time with the incubator cover off was <90 seconds.

Of the 20 eggs, 5 didn't grow into anything . One of those 5 is a 'maybe' so i left it in the incubator. The other 4 are just a light red color with nothing discernable, so i removed them to get more room in the incubator.

Of the 15 'good' eggs, 12 of them have 'external pips' - just a small little break in the egg shell, like the photo i posted earlier. 3 of them have MOVEMENT inside the egg (minimal, but it's there), but no external pips. At this point it's been over 24 hours since I noticed pips on the first eggs.

Also worth noting - of the 12 external pips, most of them are near the top, but 2 of them the pip is almost exactly at the BOTTOM of the egg. I didn't move them, but let me know if i should. Chirping like crazy, and several eggs at a time move.

What should I do with the 3 eggs that have no external pips, but slight movement inside the egg? Anything at this point? I"m about to go to bed, so tomorrow morning will have been 36 hours since the first eggs pipped

 

[Bolfreak]

So I did commit the unforgivable this evening - I took the incubator cover off and briefly (without moving the eggs) candled them - total time with the incubator cover off was <90 seconds.

Of the 20 eggs, 5 didn't grow into anything . One of those 5 is a 'maybe' so i left it in the incubator. The other 4 are just a light red color with nothing discernable, so i removed them to get more room in the incubator.

Of the 15 'good' eggs, 12 of them have 'external pips' - just a small little break in the egg shell, like the photo i posted earlier. 3 of them have MOVEMENT inside the egg (minimal, but it's there), but no external pips. At this point it's been over 24 hours since I noticed pips on the first eggs.

Also worth noting - of the 12 external pips, most of them are near the top, but 2 of them the pip is almost exactly at the BOTTOM of the egg. I didn't move them, but let me know if i should. Chirping like crazy, and several eggs at a time move.

What should I do with the 3 eggs that have no external pips, but slight movement inside the egg? Anything at this point? I"m about to go to bed, so tomorrow morning will have been 36 hours since the first eggs pipped

Yup, you did the right thing removing quitters. Everyone else, just keep monitoring like you have been and patience. Ducks take a long time to hatch…movement inside is good and just let keep cooking. Once it does start happening it’ll likely be chaotic and all at once

 

[ljmastercraft]

woke up this morning and expected some progress, but unfortunately not :/

a few of the eggs have another external pip right next to the first one, but otherwise-- nothing

having trouble keeping humidity DOWN though... it's climbed to 70%

 

[Bolfreak]

woke up this morning and expected some progress, but unfortunately not :/

a few of the eggs have another external pip right next to the first one, but otherwise-- nothing

having trouble keeping humidity DOWN though... it's climbed to 70%

Yeah the hatching can bump it up. Open the vent all the way. At least opening the top hasn’t caused it to be too dry.
I noticed a long time between phases, but you have to be patient if you see movement, they’re fine. They will breathe the air sac and rest, the diminishing oxygen in there is what stimulates them to struggle and zip the egg.

 

[ljmastercraft]

they aren't moving as much this morning; should i do something?

 

[DukesDucks]

I know it is hard but be patient. Ducks have been figuring out how to hatch for a long time. No opening incubator. Open vent plugs if you are worried about the humidity. It is sure to increase as wet ducklings hatch. You still need to leave them in incubator until dry and fluffy.
The location of the external pip may have changed because of internal movement of the duckling. Don't move them.
Go for a long walk. Go get groceries. Set a timer for period during which you will not look.

 

[ljmastercraft]

OK - i won't touch them. just would hate for them to end up not hatching if something happens =( but the chances of ALL of them not hatching after external pips is super low, right??

 

[ljmastercraft]

IT'S HAPPENING!!!!!

Two are out (i was able to watch the 2nd one come completely out). AMAZING. the other 13 eggs aren't doing anything, but the 2 that are out are kicking the eggs around lol

 

[ljmastercraft]

This is amazing. Got 2 little ducklings chirping away. The other 13 eggs haven't hatched yet. I've lowered the temperature in the incubator from 99.5 degrees to 98 degrees. will that adversely affect the other 13 eggs that haven't hatched? should i keep it high?

My understanding is i keep these 2 ducklings in the incubator for 24 hours to fluff up and get healthy before i remove them and put them in their new home, right?