Duck Egg Eggtopsy Help! (warning: graphic pics)

[peacockfeather]

for my next hatch, do you suggest i mist then? or perhaps dry hatch? they really only had a couple of days if high humidity due to lockdown for the chick eggs. i don't want to drown them again

 

[peacockfeather]

i didn't see the eggs themselves sweating, but sweating air cells could explain why they were grayish when i candled them.

 

[vahomesteaders]

for my next hatch, do you suggest i mist then? or perhaps dry hatch? they really only had a couple of days if high humidity due to lockdown for the chick eggs. i don't want to drown them again

I started having much better results once I started misting and lowering my humidity. I just watched my ducks. She would only get in the water maybe once a day and sometimes zero times a day. So her eggs were dryer than what all the books say they should be and hatched with no problems. So I started to imitate her. I would open the bator once a day and crack it open to sit at about 80 degrees for about 30 minutes then close it back up. Just like her getting off the nest to feed and drink. My success rate jumped. But thats me. Others may do it different.

 

[vahomesteaders]

But now im hatching muscovy ducks and they are a whole new world. So I got alot to learn on hatching them.

 

[peacockfeather]

i see, at least you had good results after trying something different. is your bator still or fan?

 

[vahomesteaders]

i see, at least you had good results after trying something different. is your bator still or fan?

I use a still air bator for now. But will hopefully be upgrading in the near future. But we are expanding our property at the moment and my goal is to get more broody ducks and chicks to do it for me. I also have turkeys and they are VERY broody so she is currently sitting on her eggs and several muscovy and chick eggs. I would ultimately like to have them do all the work. lol

 

[vahomesteaders]

My ducks are generaly very broody but only later on in the season. She is setting now but ignored her first 5 or 6 batches. So I hatched them.

 

[peacockfeather]

haha I hear you. sometimes nothing beats a good broody hen I was so weary misting the eggs, started to then chickened out (pun intended?) because they were already doing so well and read that some people didn't mist or said that doing so could influence bacterial growth :/

 

[vahomesteaders]

haha I hear you. sometimes nothing beats a good broody hen

I was so weary misting the eggs, started to then chickened out (pun intended?) because they were already doing so well and read that some people didn't mist or said that doing so could influence bacterial growth

Bacterial growth is pretty limited as long as its a good clean bator and even then nothing is dirtier than a poop and dirt covered hen or duck so take the expert talk with a grain of salt and rely on common sense. lol I have had more success by ignoring the "experts" and learning by trail and error. And its never ending. Sometimes you can do everything right and still loose some. One thing for sure is we aint God and we wont succeed all the time.

 

[peacockfeather]

very true, wonderful advice