Hatching call ducks

[whitesilkies]

I am planning on incubating call duck eggs soon but I can't find a lot of information online on how to hatch them. So I was hoping that someone with experience could help me out. I will need to know:

Temperature
Humid
How many times a day to turn
When to raise the humidity
When to stop turning the eggs
And how long it takes for them to hatch

Thank you!

 

[minihorse927]

I have been raising calls since 2011 and have been incubating them ever since. They are hard to hatch no matter what. I typically get 80-90% hatch rates. I get 100% sometimes but it isn't common, there always seems to be 1 or 2 that don't hatch and because I typically only incubate 10-12 at a time that kills your percentages.

Temperature should be 99.5

Humidity: I aim for 45-55% during incubation and 60-65% for lockdown. My humidity drops into the 30's before I add any more water. If it hits the 30's for a couple days, don't fret over it. Lockdown for calls is day 23, hatch day is day 26. I do not raise the humidity until I have an external pip or the end of day 25, whichever happens first. Typically mine pip externally and rest 24 hours before proceeding to hatch. Do not intervene, you will do more harm than good! I only intervene if the duckling is calling loudly due to distress after it has been a full 24 hours from external pip. Some of my ducklings come out with the tiny, tiny bills due to the parents being SQ and that causes even more problems with hatching.

I hand turn mine 2-3X's a day. DO NOT USE AN AUTOTURNER! They just do not seem to hatch once they have been turned in a autoturner.

I stop turning the eggs on day 23. They are suppose to hatch at 26 but have had them go as long as 30 and be OK. Anything that survives that 30 days mark and hatches usually has leg problems. I have had 2 this year out of 27 calls hatched that waited till day 32 and both had serious leg problems and had to be put down after hatching.

If you have any other questions let me know, I will do my best to help.

 

[maineman]

hatching under Broodies works great also I let mine set till day 23 then put them in a hatcher works great.