Critique my Call Duck set up

[Ruralhideaway]

So I lucked into some extra shipped call duck eggs from a friends friend. She ordered several small batches, all came with extras, she maxed her bator out and I bought the surplus. I've read piles of course, but really hoping for tips and hopefully reassurance!

Here's my set up. Incuview, this rolls the eggs which lay on their sides. Temp 100°f. Humidity shooting for 30%. Hard to hold it right there, it's ranging from 28-36%.

I don't know where they shipped from but the aircells are ugly. No free floaters but jiggly and saddled. They do look fresh(small aircells=fresh right?). So I stood them upright 24 hrs then set. I didn't turn the first 12 hours.

Any other suggestions? I'm ordering a scale but missed the chance to weigh at beginning due to this being an unexpected set. Should I still track weights?

 

[Ruralhideaway]

Sound ok then?

 

[Pyxis]

Sounds good to me!

Without being able to get a starting weight on them, weighing them isn't going to tell you much, so I would skip it this time.

 

[Ruralhideaway]

Sounds good to me!

Without being able to get a starting weight on them, weighing them isn't going to tell you much, so I would skip it this time.

I'll have it on hand for next time. Thank you! Fingers crossed I get a few from this batch.

 

[BackyardBantams79]

Here's my set up. Incuview, this rolls the eggs which lay on their sides. Temp 100°f. Humidity shooting for 30%. Hard to hold it right there, it's ranging from 28-36%.

Oh man! I can't tell you how happy I am to have found your post! I just started a batch of call eggs on the 31st but some had been under a hen for a few days prior to that (held in her house she would sit on them, once the door opened though, she was gone and after a wait we realized she was not going to go back and put up a fit when my daughter tried to get her back in there so we called it (pun intended lol) and put those eggs in the incubator with her others we started in there because there were 17 originally.

So, I also did a ton of reading and searching but came up with most of the recommendations for humidity at around 55% throughout incubation and then bumped up to 80% during lockdown. I came acrossed a scholarly article from a Cornell University, College of Veterinary Medicine https://ahdc.vet.cornell.edu/sects/duck/hatching.cfm where he operated off weight (such as what you were indicating with the scale question I assume) in that as long as they lose 14% of their (common duck- so Calls may be different) weight they should be good regardless of humidity during incubation (either too much or too little) and not so wet they drown. It was a great read. Good luck! I have a thread about my maiden attempt at incubation right now too. I'll post a link. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/call-duck-hen-failure-to-commit.1232150/

 

[Ravynscroft]

Sounds good to me!

Without being able to get a starting weight on them, weighing them isn't going to tell you much, so I would skip it this time.

X2

I actually never weigh my own, lol... humidity sounds good, if the air cells don't get big enough, misting or sponging may be needed later on, just watch the air cells...

 

[Ruralhideaway]

X2

I actually never weigh my own, lol... humidity sounds good, if the air cells don't get big enough, misting or sponging may be needed later on, just watch the air cells...

You have a trained eye for those aircells! I just have a chart to compare. Hopefully that'll be enough.

I just hatched chicks and thought my humidity could have been a bit lower so I'm going with 30%. Plenty of time to read up further too. I read about misting so I'll get a bottle in hand to be ready.

Thanks!

 

[Ruralhideaway]

Oh man! I can't tell you how happy I am to have found your post! I just started a batch of call eggs on the 31st but some had been under a hen for a few days prior to that (held in her house she would sit on them, once the door opened though, she was gone and after a wait we realized she was not going to go back and put up a fit when my daughter tried to get her back in there so we called it (pun intended lol) and put those eggs in the incubator with her others we started in there because there were 17 originally.

So, I also did a ton of reading and searching but came up with most of the recommendations for humidity at around 55% throughout incubation and then bumped up to 80% during lockdown. I came acrossed a scholarly article from a Cornell University, College of Veterinary Medicine https://ahdc.vet.cornell.edu/sects/duck/hatching.cfm where he operated off weight (such as what you were indicating with the scale question I assume) in that as long as they lose 14% of their (common duck- so Calls may be different) weight they should be good regardless of humidity during incubation (either too much or too little) and not so wet they drown. It was a great read. Good luck! I have a thread about my maiden attempt at incubation right now too. I'll post a link. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/call-duck-hen-failure-to-commit.1232150/

I've read that also. Much good info to be found. I'll follow your thread to get more tips.

 

[Ravynscroft]

You have a trained eye for those aircells! I just have a chart to compare. Hopefully that'll be enough.

I just hatched chicks and thought my humidity could have been a bit lower so I'm going with 30%. Plenty of time to read up further too. I read about misting so I'll get a bottle in hand to be ready.

Thanks!

Check out the Assisted Guide to Hatching article @Pyxis has linked in her signature, that will give you a lot of good info...

Be careful of a lot of the info online, much about Calls and duck incubation/hatching is written up with old wet bulb readings, not the hygrometers we use now... those are higher in comparison to RH readings aimed for...

 

[Ruralhideaway]

Check out the Assisted Guide to Hatching article @Pyxis has linked in her signature, that will give you a lot of good info...

Be careful of a lot of the info online, much about Calls and duck incubation/hatching is written up with old wet bulb readings, not the hygrometers we use now... those are higher in comparison to RH readings aimed for...

Read and planning to review again at lockdown. There really is a big range of info out there. Seems everyone here actually raising them uses lower humidity, seemed best to go with what's actually working for people.