Hatching duck eggs

[everyday_farmlife]

Hi do this is my first go at attempting to incubate duck eggs...
We've had some wild humidity fluctuations over the past 6 days the RH has been sitting up around 85% (yea I have an independent calibrated hygrometer and thermometer)
Anyways these duck eggs were set 9 days ago and the humidity for the first 2-3 days was around 50% but then it shot up to 75-85% for 4 days, yesterday I managed to stabilised it at 60% and now it is down to 35-38% so my question is.... Is 35-38% okay considering the humidity was so all over the place for the first week? I candled them at 7 days and 1 had quit, 4 looked 'alive' and 5 looked infertile but I will leave them until day 10? which is tomorrow... that's what I do for chicken eggs and sometimes some start late or are ducks totally different?
Next question from what day do I need to do a cooling down period and mist the eggs? I was going to do it from day 10 for 30 mins does that sound okay?

 

[IvysAnimals]

Humidity should always be around 50% until lockdown, which should go up 10%. Since they were at such high humidity levels, leaving them at lower levels should be fine but brought back up in the next 2 days. Duck eggs start showing clear signs of developing 3-4 days after being in the incubator. It's your choice if you want to take them out, I don't think it would be bad. If they haven't shown signs of developing, then the eggs probably weren't fertilized. The temp should be at 99.5 degrees F until all have hatched. A cup of lukewarm water should be put in the incubator to keep humidity levels consistent and not shock any of the eggs with cool water. The eggs can be cooled for 30 minutes each day starting on day 7 of the incubation period. Two days before the eggs are due to hatch the cooling should be turned off/stopped, along with the automatic turning feature. If you don't have an automatic turner, just stop turning them manually. Hope that helps!

 

[everyday_farmlife]

Humidity should always be around 50% until lockdown, which should go up 10%. Since they were at such high humidity levels, leaving them at lower levels should be fine but brought back up in the next 2 days. Duck eggs start showing clear signs of developing 3-4 days after being in the incubator. It's your choice if you want to take them out, I don't think it would be bad. If they haven't shown signs of developing, then the eggs probably weren't fertilized. The temp should be at 99.5 degrees F until all have hatched. A cup of lukewarm water should be put in the incubator to keep humidity levels consistent and not shock any of the eggs with cool water. The eggs can be cooled for 30 minutes each day starting on day 7 of the incubation period. Two days before the eggs are due to hatch the cooling should be turned off/stopped, along with the automatic turning feature. If you don't have an automatic turner, just stop turning them manually. Hope that helps!

Thankyou, so don't mist them? Just cool them for 30mins a day?

 

[Yardmom]

The two things I find different about incubating duck eggs is time and time. The first is time for number of days the second is the time from pip to hatch. I think your humidity should be fine. The humidity is a longer range affect then the immediate. Some do use a bit higher humidity than chickens for the days before lock down. Not all do. Also many hatch with out a cooling process and many hatch without misting. I have not used either one, and and do my humidity like I do chickens.

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

I run my eggs at 45% humidity till lock down then up to 65 only after I see first internal pip
As for cool and misting I do this day 10- to lockdown
Only 10 mins and warm water
I do this outside the bator so my bator doesn’t jump higher
I don’t follow day 25 lockdown
I go by the eggs. I look for shadowing along air cell , egg rocking and air cell dipping forward fast at that point I do lockdown
I have had babies hatch from day 24 to 30 so I learned follow the eggs not the book
I get great hatch rates usually 100 %
I also candle my eggs daily this way I can track the changes
Good luck

 

[IvysAnimals]

Thankyou, so don't mist them? Just cool them for 30mins a day?

They can be misted, just make sure it's not cold or hot water you're putting on them.