Ok, I have 4 chicken eggs ready to go into lockdown this Saturday which means, I will be raising the humidity but I also have some duck eggs in with them. Now the duck eggs, I have NO clue how old they are, you see the neighbor brought them to me because they found a female duck sitting on 18 eggs but something was taken and eating the eggs. So they brought me the remaining eggs, I have candled them and can see babies alive in the eggs. If i was to guess I would say they were on day 13 last Friday which would make them on day 19 today and according to the candle pics that I have seen, I would say this is accurate. So come Saturday the chicken eggs will go into Lockdown, making the duck eggs on day 21 can I leave the ducks eggs in the incubator with the chicken eggs in lockdown? Or do the duck eggs need to get out of there because they still need to be turned? I know ABSOLUTELY nothing about hatching ducks because this is the first time in doing soo.. Can I leave the duck eggs with the high humidity and not turn them any more after Saturday or will we be unsucessful at hatching them because it's not quite Lockdown yet for them. Or is it lockdown for them? Not sure what day is considered Lockdown for a duck, I'm assuming it's the same as a chick 3 days before hatching..As you can see I know NOTHING about hatching a duck..
Most ducks' incubation period is 28 days, meaning you'd want to go into lockdown on day 25. Muscovy ducks are slowpokes though and they take about 35 days. But if you don't know exactly what day these ducks are on, that probably doesn't help much. I'd say if you have a separate incubator you should maybe separate the eggs. But if you don't, maybe go into lockdown with your chickens a day late, and that way the ducks can be turned for another day and won't be too affected by the hike in humidity. I think that's what I'd do anyway, but maybe other people will have better suggestions...
Quote:X2... it wont hurt the duck eggs to go into lockdown with the chicken eggs so long as they aren't muscovy eggs.. assuming they are muscovys you would be better off turning them for at least a while longer since they take 35 days.. not knowing what day the eggs are on and not knowing the whether they are muscovy or not we can only hope that they are a duck variety which takes 28 days... in which case the extra humidity for a few days won't hurt them.. and from what you have told us they are far enough into incubation that the not turning won't matter.
The eggs are greenish blue and from what I have been told only two kind of ducks lay colored eggs, mallards and indian runner. I'm thinking they are mallards what kind of duck lays or sits on 18 of therm..
I am going to guess mallard because Indian Runners are not known as great parents. They rather drop and run (so I have read). I would do for the chickens and hope the ducks fare well. They are lucky ducks to get a chance.
Quote:they should be fine then.. just make sure you keep the humidity up for the ducks when they go to hatch and that they are slow coming out of the shell compared to chickens
OK well the chicken eggs went into Lockdown on Sunday and today 2 of them have cracked. Now on the duck side, THEY ARE WIGGLING LIKE CRAZY.... I think they went into lockdown as well...I did take one out and candled it and I could see the duck pushing on the membrane, no peep sounds yet but the little guy was pushing..... I took made sure all pre-cautions were taken for the humidity and temp showing no changes when I did this.....
Neighbor's said the mommy looks like a mallard except she has white on the tips of her wings and the Father looks just like a peguin. He has a white chest and the rest is black. What kind of duck do you think the Father is??