Silkie duck egg adventure

[foxvalleyfarm]

OK so I ordered and paid for half a dozen silkie duck eggs last night. Hopefully they will ship Thursday otherwise I'll have to wait til Monday for them to ship. I'm trying to decide if I should use my still air Little Giant incubator that thus far has proven to hold Temps rock steady wherever I put them. Or my homemade that has a fan and because of the light and all the Temps swing about 3 degrees. It's had a 100% hatch rate with home chicks. Also what Temps and humidity are best for these little guys?

 

[silkiecuddles]

I have a coupled silkie eggs from my own hens currently in the incubator with a dozen duck eggs. Temp and humidity are the same as for any chicken egg. Because I have different eggs in my incubator, I have the humidity at 50%.
Because you're using eggs you've bought, I would use your most dependable incubator. With bought eggs, I would take as few risks as possible. If you're just using your chickens eggs, I'd say experiment. Good luck!

 

[foxvalleyfarm]

I trust both incubators and both have great hatch rates. I'm just wondering if the more stable still air or the lightly fluctuating forced air would be better.

 

[silkiecuddles]

I don't know. I'm new to this incubating adventure, and I'm using a Brinsea Octagon.

 

[foxvalleyfarm]

I don't know. I'm new to this incubating adventure, and I'm using a Brinsea Octagon. 

Also these are silkie ducks not silkie chickens.

 

[silkiecuddles]

Silkie ducks? never heard of that. Duck eggs need 45%-55% humidity.

 

[silkiecuddles]

just googled them. They're beautiful!

 

[foxvalleyfarm]

I always do my Duck eggs dry. I raise Ancona ducks and have great hatch rates.

 

[silkiecuddles]

hm. I've read duck eggs get better hatch rates using the wet method (i don't remember the technical name for it at the moment)

 

[foxvalleyfarm]

I live in NC so my humidity without me adding water stays between 20 and 30%. And if it dips then I will add a bit of water.