Call Duck Eggs: Artifical Versus Natural Incubation

[CityChicker]

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Yea! That is great!

 

[duckluck]

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Nope, he doesn't have an auto-reply...Don is very old-fashioned and believes in giving his attention to everyone himself as much as possible. Which is a good thing! I do know he was having trouble with it again this morning, so calling might be the best way to go.

One thing about the Humidaire is that it does live up to its name and does hold humidity well. That GQF I am running tends to run kind of dry. There are pros and cons to each. I almost bought a Dickey myself before I stumbled onto these two Humidaires. I think though if you find yourself drawn to one particular type of machine, you should go for it!

Don is also able to find out exactly when the Humidaires were manufactured; it was kind of neat that he was able to find out for me that this pair that I have were ordered together brand new as a pair, and that they have consecutive serial numbers. It's always interesting to know the specs on things you buy used, and what may have been modified since then.

 

[bellebouche]

Seven duck eggs went into my Brinsea Mini Advance on Wednesday morning and although they physically fit in the turning mechanism can't cope - the eggs are just too large.

I've settled on a 120 degree rotation every 8 hours for my manual turning regime. First time I've not used the Brinsea in it's auto turning mode - so we shall see. My prior hatch rate has (so far) been 100% for each hatch with the Brinsea when using hen eggs (and 1 mallard!) so this will be something of a first.

 

[Scott]

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I've actually got 9 call duck eggs in mine. Seven of those sit in the tray as intended... the other two are kinda angled toward the outer side. The seven turn fine, thought I have been turning the extra two. I have bantam duck eggs though, which arent much bigger than a bantam chicken egg. I added the extra two to account for quitters, but so far all nine are developing. We shall see...

Your Brinsea Mini Advance post was one of the reason I ended up going with that model. I'm glad I did.

Good luck with your current hatch!

 

[CityChicker]

Thank you for all the info, Duckluck. I won't say much more because I don't want to totally hijack Scott's thread. I may end up going with a Dickie, but we will give Don a call. I have been holding out as long as possible hoping that I will find a used Humidaire or Petersime, so we shall see. Thanks again and good luck with yours!


I think those Brinsea Mini Advances will probably be good for waterfowl. It's too bad they are so small. They look like a similar principle to the Lyon/Marsh Farms Turn-X machines, which I had pretty good luck with years ago (but, again they are just too small for a lot of people). I really think the newer model Roll-X is probably awesome for waterfowl as well, but it only holds about a quarter the eggs that a small cabinet incubator does and they are expensive. They do have the same roller system (the newer model) that the Grumbach machines have though. The eggs sit horizontally on their sides on top of rollers. The turner pushes the rollers forward, then back, rolling the eggs very similar to how hand turning would work. I *loved* my Grumbach, but again- they are uber expensive and I can't afford another unless I find a great deal on a used one.

I have tried other incubators with moderate to mediocre success. I used to have a couple of the Brinsea 20's, but only had modest success with the auto turn cradles (just with waterfowl eggs) and couldn't get the humidity high enough (again though, it is very dry here). I now have one of the cheap Brinsea's without the turning cradle. I did a couple of hatches in it with hand turning and had *much* better results than I did with my previous Brinseas. It will be interesting to see how you guys do with the little Brinsea. I bet it works good if it can maintain the temp/humidity appropriately.

 

[Scott]

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I'm hoping so. The conditions seem right. We'll see what it does with this hatch. I'd actually like to get one of the dome-style Lyons. Their supposedly good. Never heard of the Grumbach until you mentioned it.

 

[CityChicker]

The dome style is the Turn-X. I can't remember, but it seems like it holds about 25 medium chicken eggs (maybe a little less). The good thing about those is that there are a lot of them floating around. I have been seeing them on Ebay sometimes for like $125-$150. Grumbach is a really well known German brand of very expensive incubators. They are amazing! A lot of people use them for parrot eggs, which can be even more difficult to hatch than waterfowl. Their smaller model (which actually holds about a hundred eggs if you factor in the bottom shelf) is about $2,500-$3,500 depending on the features you get. They have an integrated water tank and auto humidity, the roller system, timed turning, and come also in all digital format. You do have to have a voltage converter for them as well though (mine was about $250).

Anyway, the Grumbachs are great, but way too expensive for most people. I got an absolute steal on mine used, but ended up selling it when we sold off our parrots and moved to Texas. I would buy another one in a heart beat though if I could find it.

 

[Mrs. Turbo]

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A lot of the call duck and waterfowl breedes, us included, use the old redwood incubators. It is a large cabinet incubator that holds the humidity and temps pretty well. It also has trays to hold the eggs on their side and hand turn. We do well hatching with it.

 

[duckluck]

Mrs. Turbo :

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A lot of the call duck and waterfowl breedes, us included, use the old redwood incubators. It is a large cabinet incubator that holds the humidity and temps pretty well. It also has trays to hold the eggs on their side and hand turn. We do well hatching with it.

What brand of redwoods are you running, Mrs. Turbo?​

 

[Scott]

How much should a redwood incubator run... price wise? Is $350 reasonable? I don't know the model. But here is a photo: