First time hatching shipped eggs (first time hatching Duck eggs too!), advice appreciated

[Dgrif5]

Hello, and apologies if a duck-related thread is unsuitable outside of the specific duck section. We've recently ordered a dozen duck eggs to incubate which have just arrived today. I've candled them and can't find any obvious cracks, though the air cells seem odd. They don't seem 'saddled' like I've seen in some images, but they seem to have a bubble of some sort within the air cell that wobbles about, and on some I cant seem to see an air cell at all. I've left them all large end up to rest for the next 24 hours, and will hopefully set them tomorrow. As for the setting, this is our first time with duck eggs, so i'm not sure what to do. We have two incubators we can use, as well as a recently broody hen. I've heard some stories about hens hatching duck eggs, and it would be much easier to integrate them that way, but any advice there would be appreciated.

As for the incubators, the current plan is to put as many of the eggs under the hen as she can seemingly handle, then incubate the rest. As I've heard shipped eggs have a much lower hatch rate, the plan was to candle them all at day 10, and swap out any duds under the hen for any developing eggs in the incubator, hopefully ending up with several viable eggs, though I worry that she won't sit the full 4 weeks so i'll leave the incubator running in case a quick save is necessary. The primary issue at the moment is that i'm not sure how duck incubation varies, apart from the extra week. I've heard they need a higher humidity, but i'm not sure how much higher is necessary. I'm also not sure if the temperature in the incubator needs to be higher/lower. Lastly, I've seen several comments suggesting misting and cooling the eggs every day after day 7, but i'm not sure if that's common practice or an unusual alternative.. in addition, i'm not sure if shipped eggs require any additional care on consideration besides leaving them to settle for a day, so any advice there would be appreciated also.

Apologies for the wall of text, but given the double issue of a new species and shipped eggs, there is a significant lack of surety on how to approach this. Any help would be greatly appreciated, and if it would interest anyone, I can happily keep everyone up-to-date with the progress (of the incubator at least, i'd rather not get pecked to death by our broody every day!)

Thanks again!

 

[LeggoMyMeggo]

Hi friend! I am excited to follow how your hatch goes. We just hit day 30 for 7 magpie duck eggs we were incubating. We also had them shipped and they are our first try with duck eggs. I don't have any tips or tricks since we don't fully know how our 1st attempt will end but I can tell you what we have done. Maybe we can learn from each other. Some of my info came from a local farmer who is 83 so I hope it was good.

We set our temp at 99.5 and for the first 3 weeks we kept the humidity between 55-65. We started spraying and cooling the eggs around day 8 or 9 I believe. The advice we got from the farmer and online varied on when to start that so we met in the middle. Stopped turning at day 27. The last week we have upped the humidity to try and maintain 70-80. All eggs looked great through the last candleling. So far we only have one little guy. Han solo fully hatched about 36 hrs ago, my 7 year old is in charge of themed names. Definitely holding out hope for the last ones.

What breeds did you end up with and how many? I'm really excited to see which batch of yours hatches more. It's a showdown... hen vs. incubator!

 

[Dgrif5]

Thanks for the reply, and i'll be sure to keep you updated as to how it all goes! I love Han Solo, he/(she?)'s adorable!

Out of curiosity, how did your air cells look before incubation? I've left ours for nearly 24 hours now but the air cells still seem wobbly so i'm really not sure what to do there. Some people online seem to suggest incubating them upright in egg cartons, did you do this, or just incubate them normally? thanks!

 

[LeggoMyMeggo]

Ours looked similar to what you described. I'm sure shipping over multiple states rattled ours some. We let ours settle like you for 24 hours. Ours were on thier sides, hadn't heard about doing it upright but it would be interesting to see how it turned out. Hopefully someone else on here has tried that and can let us know.