first time hatching ducks

[snackquack]

my sister and i decided to hatch some baby ducks. we have watched so many videos and read so many articles, but im so anxious about everything. i know theres a chance of some not making it and im trying to prepare myself, but i have so many questions still. the eggs will be here in the mail this friday and im extremely nervous.

first we bought a little giant still air incubator, but we couldnt get the temperature correct and im assuming its because it has no fan? we set it to 99.5 and the corners were about 88, the middle 95 and the top was 98. it also didnt have an egg turner which made me really nervous

so i broke and bought a really expensive "pro series digital circulated air incubator with automatic egg turner" which will be a lot better, right? the temperature looks good all around the inside and the egg turner works fine



a question i have is, what is the humidity supposed to be? i keep seeing all over something in the 80's, but i was reading through a thread on here and everyone says that is way too high. right now my incubator reads 64%, is that good?

also, what will the incubating process look like? i know i should candle, but how often? i also saw some terms on here i did not understand. internal and external pipping, zipping, and some others. do i have to do anything before they hatch or do i just let them go at it unless something is wrong?

are egg turners good? all the videos ive watched show the eggs hatching on their sides. so like, when it gets closer to hatch day, should i take them out of the turner and put them on the mesh and turn them myself so theyre on their sides? i know i cant let them hatch inside the turner but im so nervous i keep overthinking everything! lol

ALSO last question. im going to be sharing these ducks with my family and i want to be able to tell them apart, is there a leg band i can put on them as babies and not have to change or will their legs get too big? should i just wait until theyre older?

im sorry for so many questions. im bound to have more, but thank you to anyone who answers these!

 

[Poultry parent]

With the leg bands, you will have to change them as they grow.

The humidity should be about 55, then 3 days before the hatch turn it up to 65.

I candle my eggs at day 7, and day 14. You can look up pictures of duck egg candling to See what they should look like.

Internal pipping is when they break through the air cell, and you can hear them chirp. External pipping is when they poke a hole in the shell.
Zipping is when they start to make a crack all around the top of the egg.

The egg turner is good. You can hand turn them which I what I do because I don't want to get a turner. 3 days before the hatch you take the eggs out of The turner, and set them on their sides in the incubator.

3 days before the hatch is know as Lockdown. You do not open the incubator during this time as it messes with the humidity

 

[snackquack]

Thank you for the advice and answers! So during lockdown i dont turn them at all? Am i allowed to open it to add wet sponges if the humidity goes down, or should it be good on its own for that long?

Also, i just now realized this should probably be in the hatching eggs topic, my bad :[

 

[Poultry parent]

If the humidity is down you can open it, but otherwise you don't want to open it.

You don't turn them during lockdown, 3 days before the hatch (when lockdown starts) the duckling starts to get into hatching position, and turning it at that point can result in a malpositioned duck

 

[snackquack]

Ohh ok, i understand! Hmm i had one more question but i cant remember...

Oh yeah! When they start to hatch, how long does it take usually? Is there any point at which i should step in and help?

 

[Poultry parent]

After the first external pip, it can take up to 24 hours before they start to do anything else. If it seems to be trying to get ou, and hasn't made any progress after 36 hours then you can look into helping it