Hi all! I am new to the backyard chicken sight so please bear with me I would like to hatch duck and chicken eggs together but I am a little nervous. My daughters class hatched duck and chicken eggs together and none off the ducks successfully hatched. They seemed to get stuck in their shells and I don;t want that to happen to my new babies. Any suggestions? Is it ok to hatch them together? I was thinking the humidity maybe wasn't high enough for the duck eggs. Thanks! Amber
I haven't done duck eggs, but from the threads that I have read and the info I have gathered, that is the biggest problem with hatching the two together. It is my understanding that ducks need a higher humidity than chicks for successful hatch. While I have read threads where people have managed hatching both, it's not something I would want the stress of. I dry incubate for my chicks just to avoid having them drown or end up sticky when they hatch because if the humidity is too high for chicks, they have the possibility of drowning in their shell. Hopefully someone that has successfully managed the feat can give you some ideas or tricks that may help. Good luck!
I have hatched them together and it is my experience that ducks do not need higher humidity. I think chicken eggs can tolerate a higher humidity than ducks eggs. I would guess that the duck eggs did not hatch because they had grown too big. I dry incubate mine and they do well. Some people spray their duck eggs with water after day 7 but the water actually causes the duck egg to loose more moisture.
