Hand turning vs Auto turner for Duck Eggs?

[donnavee]

I just bought some call duck eggs from someone on Ebay and they suggest hand turning instead of the auto turner. The reason being that misting the eggs at least once a day helps with the humidity and they feel the egg stays wet where it sits in the turner and causes bacteria to form in the egg. I'm pretty new to hatching and I did hatch some call duck eggs last year with a turner - maybe a 30% hatch rate which isn't great.

I'm wondering what others think about this?

 

[mrslb333]

I have higher hatch rate with duck and goose eggs using still air and hand turning, not sure why that is though. Were the eggs shipped 30% isnt bad for calls they can be tricky to hatch

 

[Glenmar]

I hatched some Pekins. I did not mist them. I also used an autoturner.
I hatched them just like chickens except during lockdown, I did mist them to keep my humidity up to 70%.
I had 6 out of 6 hatch.

 

[donnavee]

Yeah, seems some people prefer hand turning and others say the turner works just fine. The ones I hatched last year were not shipped but collected from my call ducks. I did have a 100% hatch rate when a broody call sat on the eggs - they can't read a thermometer or candle an egg, but sure know what they are doing.

 

[AhadAzh]

I hatched some Pekins. I did not mist them. I also used an autoturner.
I hatched them just like chickens except during lockdown, I did mist them to keep my humidity up to 70%.
I had 6 out of 6 hatch.

What did you do that was different in lockdown can I ask. I bought some pekin eggs and used an auto turner (one that keeps the egg upright and rotates side to side) and none of them hatched. They looked as if they were doing well before lockdown. This time im planning on taking them out of the upright holders and laying them on their side before lockdown and everything else like increase humidity to 70% and drop temp to 37°C