Feeling intimidated...

[Mothersclucker]

Okay...so I am completely new to the whole chicken/duck world. My husband and I have been talking about raising our own flock for nearly 15 years and this year we finally took the plunge and did it. We both grew up on a farms. His parents had chickens and dairy...mine did beef cattle so again, I'm new to all of this.

I recently decided to add ducks to my flock. My 10 year old son and I wanted to hatch them on our own so we purchased a Hova-Bator and eggs. We hit the halfway mark today and out of 12, 8 are active in their shells and looking great! What scares me is all the technical aspects everyone talks of. I understand keeping the temperature consistent and holding humidity but on a tight budget...we don't have anything that reads humidity. We just follow the directions that came with the incubator by keeping the proper channel full of water.

My mother-in-law laughs when I tell her how nervous I am because she explains that when she was raising them they didn't overly stress over humidity levels. Yet all I seem to read are people stating how important it is to keep things at a certain level. So now I'm stressed that none of my eggs will make it because I don't have or know my humidity level. I started misting(spraying) the eggs once a day and always make sure there is water in the channel inside the incubator.

Is there anyone out there with success stories on hatching without all the technical extras? At this point I'd be happy with just a couple of my ducks making it with all that I read. Maybe I'm stressing too much? *Pulls hair out* I'd love to continue hatching my own over the years but if it's this stressful I'm going to end up at the funny farm.

 

[GitaBooks]

Congrats on the new birds!

I've heard lots of people hatch without complex equipment. It sometimes is more stressful (keeping poultry can be), but it is less expensive and does work.

Best of luck with your ducklings!

 

[lazy gardener]

I don't want to stress you about humidity. I've never hatched duck eggs. My only recommendation is that you read the articles in "hatching eggs 101" in the learning center. There's an excellent chart that gives info about watching air cell size. You could use that in lieu of a hygrometer. Do you know anyone who has a hygrometer you can borrow? There's also the "wet bulb relative humidity" method of tracking humidity, but you'd need 2 thermometers with identical readings for that to work. That method was used in years past, and may still be used by some hatchers. Have you read the info regarding "dry hatching"? I wish you the best with your duckies!

 

[reinet130]

All I had the last time was the mercury thermometer that came with the incubator. Those eggs had a rough start anyway since the hen quit sitting at 2 weeks and the eggs went cold twice, once overnight until we discovered she wasn't sitting anymore and once when we forgot the light in the hen house that was on them was on a timer. I bought the still air incubator and We did manage one live hatch out and lost one because we didn't help it soon enough.

This time we started from scratch and at 18 days have 13 out of the 15 (chicken) eggs rolling around! I have been reading and worrying about the humidity as well and finally spent $8 at Lowes and bought a digital thermometer with humidity readings. It's better than nothing and was a cheep (pun intended) investment!. I put water in the channels as well but also put a container of water in also that gets the water a little closer to the heating element. I started at 45% and now in lockdown have been able to keep it consistant at 54%

Good luck!

 

[Mothersclucker]

Thanks to all of you for responding. I very much appreciate what you've shared. Unfortunately the only person around me that I know of that has ducks is my brother and he didn't hatch them, they were given to him by friends. I asked him about the hygrometer but he said that he didn't have one nor did the few friends that have ducks/fowl either. I'm at day 12 right now and the ones that are left out of the original dozen are quite active in their shells. I know this can change clear up to hatch day so trying not to get too overly excited. This is all just a learning process but I'm keeping a log book and checking on them every hour or so.

I also checked out the hatching 101 as well as caring and raising ducks and learned a few things that I didn't know so thank you for pointing me in that direction. So much to read and so much great information and advice! I'm overwhelmed and very thankful to have a place to come, learn and share.

It's nice to hear that others have had success without all the extras. I do believe however that when I hatch again...and I know I will, I will definitely grab up a few more things to make it an even greater success!

Thanks everyone!!

 

[chiques chicks]

If it makes you feel better, I only have a thermometer in my incubator. I keep it in my basement so humidity is what it is. I have a damp basement. I use a seperate hatcher. I fill some water trays and the humidity is higher, but not sure what it is.

I candle once at lock down and toss what didn't develop.

My incubator is a converted mini fridge, my hatcher is an igloo cooler. Heat sources are light bulbs. Incubator has a cabinet fan in it to circulate air.

Stuff still hatches.