Duck egg advice!!

[NatDuB90]

This is my first time ever incubating duck eggs. They are on a automatic turner and are at 99.5 degrees and 55% humidity. Does this all sound correct?? Any advice you can give will be greatly appreciated!

 

[PD-Riverman]

This is my first time ever incubating duck eggs. They are on a automatic turner and are at 99.5 degrees and 55% humidity. Does this all sound correct?? Any advice you can give will be greatly appreciated!

I personally would not want the humidity that high but I do not hatch a lot of duck eggs---(ALOT of chicken eggs though) so I am going to follow to see what the "Pro's" do. If you are offered advice its good to find out their hatch rate----meaning I do not want advice from a person that hatched 2 out of 50 eggs----be careful!

 

[gatorfig]

Morning! I also do not keep the humidity quite that high, although I think it depends on what type of incubator and air movement you have.
I aim for about 50% (as 45-55% was recommended) in this incubator (Brinsea Ovation). The first round of ducklings had all fertile eggs survive to the hatching lockdown (lost two in lockdown that never pipped). This round of ducklings was just candled last night for fertility (44/48) and everyone's looking good so far!
Best of luck with your hatch! I'm looking forward to seeing more responses!

 

[NatDuB90]

Thanks so much!! Yes this is my ducks very first lay season.. I can see that some appear fertile and some do not.. being her first lay should I expect a lot less fertile compared to fertile ones? She is continuing to lay one egg a day. How long do you wait to throw out eggs that you believe to be bad? I've read on websites where some say after the 6th day if no good blood vessels throw out and some say that you should wait till 14 days to be safe.. since you have hatched your own duck eggs I'll ask your opinion also do you mist your duck eggs?

 

[gatorfig]

Congrats on your first duck eggs from your lady! That's awesome!
When I ran my first duckling batch, it was half from my ladies and half from my friend's (whose flock we subsequently purchased when she downsized). My ladies were 0/29 and hers were just under 50% fertile. As I was reading around trying to figure out why I was skunked, I read somewhere that the drakes often aren't great breeders until they are at least 1 (her drake is a couple of years old - the one who now has given me 44/48; mine were under one year). I'm sure the ladies being young has something to do with it, too, but I did see somewhere that the males mature a little later. We keep a small $10 pool in their pen since they breed best in water (and in summers it's great because I'm less stressed about running out of water during the day).
I personally candle at day 7 and discard anything that isn't developed. If I were to have one several days behind the other (developing but looks nothing like the rest), I would probably leave it to see if it catches up; otherwise, I think I've read too many sad stories about exploded eggs to take the chance leaving anything longer.
I have read about misting duck eggs, but I'm still new to them, so I'm pretty gun-shy about opening the incubator that often, although I may try it as I set the eggs down for the hatching lockdown. I try to do brief candling at 7, ~19, 26+lockdown; and not open the incubator otherwise. I'm sure I'll get more daring with my next hatch, especially if the hatch rate is lower than I'd like (I know ducks are lower than chickens, but hopefully not THAT much lower).
Have an awesome day! I hope something in this helps!