I have two butters that I bought last year and the hen has been laying a clutch almost ever two weeks or so. I decided I wanted to add a few members to the flock
Now I have breed reptiles for years (recently got out of it though) and no problems and figured that ducks could not be that much harder. I still have my still-air hovabator that I used with the reptile eggs, but decided to buy something a little more fancy. I picked up a little three egg holding r-com digital incubator . I thought it would be a lot more accurate with temps and its supposed to monitor humidity and all that. It also turned the eggs every three hours until 3 days before hatching and it automatically stopped.
Well I had three call duck eggs in there, first never pipped internally, just died one me. Second one pipped internally, but never externally. I decided to help that one out as I read in posts by a forum member called Sundown I believe. After helping the little guy out I quickly found out his beak and head were malformed. Had to put him down, which was prob one of the hardest thing I ever did. The third egg I added three days later than the first and is still incubating. I am reluctant to even let it finish. It's scheduled to hatch on Monday.
Anyway I am going to try this over again with another clutch and looking for suggestions. First I am going to ditch this digital incubator and go back to the hovabator and manual turn the eggs three times a day myself.
Here are my questions...
Should I use my still-air or by a turbo fan model?
What's the best way to handle the humidity? Should I just fill up the bottom channels? How often should I mist the eggs?
I just ordered a water wiggler and a brinsea spot check thermometer, so going to insert the probe into the wiggler so I know the internal temps of the eggs. Just need to find out if I need to order a new incubator or not and which model.
Thanks for any suggestions glad I found this forum and looking forward to contributing in the future.
Now I have breed reptiles for years (recently got out of it though) and no problems and figured that ducks could not be that much harder. I still have my still-air hovabator that I used with the reptile eggs, but decided to buy something a little more fancy. I picked up a little three egg holding r-com digital incubator . I thought it would be a lot more accurate with temps and its supposed to monitor humidity and all that. It also turned the eggs every three hours until 3 days before hatching and it automatically stopped.
Well I had three call duck eggs in there, first never pipped internally, just died one me. Second one pipped internally, but never externally. I decided to help that one out as I read in posts by a forum member called Sundown I believe. After helping the little guy out I quickly found out his beak and head were malformed. Had to put him down, which was prob one of the hardest thing I ever did. The third egg I added three days later than the first and is still incubating. I am reluctant to even let it finish. It's scheduled to hatch on Monday.
Anyway I am going to try this over again with another clutch and looking for suggestions. First I am going to ditch this digital incubator and go back to the hovabator and manual turn the eggs three times a day myself.
Here are my questions...
Should I use my still-air or by a turbo fan model?
What's the best way to handle the humidity? Should I just fill up the bottom channels? How often should I mist the eggs?
I just ordered a water wiggler and a brinsea spot check thermometer, so going to insert the probe into the wiggler so I know the internal temps of the eggs. Just need to find out if I need to order a new incubator or not and which model.
Thanks for any suggestions glad I found this forum and looking forward to contributing in the future.
Last edited:
