Things don't always go as planned

   We have been incubating Khaki Campbell duck eggs, and by this time we were thinking we would have a bunch of ducklings running around, but it didn't go as planned. We only have two female ducks, so we were only getting two eggs a day to put in the incubator. Khaki Campbell eggs take about 28 days to hatch, but around 20th day we noticed a smell coming from the incubator. It wasn't an unbearable smell, but still a smell like something was wrong. When we candled them around day 8 everything looked good, but when we candled them when the smell started we saw no movement or anything. We read that you are not supposed to wash the eggs when you get them from the coop because you'll take away the protective coat. With all the spots on the eggs  we were wondering if bacteria got into the eggs. The only thing that looked good was the air sack. We left them in the incubator hoping for the best, but after day 35 we decided that they didn't make it. I took them out into the woods and broke them open to see what happen. What I found was the egg that was the oldest had a pretty well formed duckling in it and the one that was ten days newer was not as well formed. That means that they all died at the same time. After talking to my wife she told me how my little boy was sitting up on the counter near the incubator, but she didn't notice him play with it.
When she checked on the eggs later she noticed that the temperature got turn way up. This is probably what killed the eggs.

   We are currently loading the incubator to try again. After doing some more research we are going to try some more things to insure are success, including keeping little hands away from the temperature knob. I have a couple of chickens that like to sit on their eggs; they also get mad at me when I take the eggs. I tried putting duck eggs under them to see if they would hatch them, but they don't stay on the eggs long enough to keep them warm. Sometimes a chicken won't be a duck.