Hi I hope everyone here is fine. I am going to hatch the duck eggs. Ok i know that it takes 28 days to hatch, but what should be the humidity and temperature. As different sources says different humidities. So, is there anyone here who can guide me properly that what should be necessary in hatching duck eggs. I have hatched different chicken eggs before and got good hatch rate but now i want to hatch duck eggs and need help. Thanks alot. Regards Naveed
Same temp as for chickens, 99.5 forced air 102 for still and humidity around 50% for incubation and 80% for hatch
I also misted our ducks twice a day for the first 25 days and got great results 21 of 23 of our ducks hatched!
Depending on your incubator settings, skill level, and the eggs' genetic make-up, length of incubation will differ, as well as the numbers listed below. A couple degrees off could mean a big change in length of incubation and possibly a big failure!!! If the eggs are from a good broody hen the numbers should be right on. The temp. is the same as with chickens however, the relative humidity is a little bit more since the duck eggs take a little bit longer to hatch open due to the thickness of the shells. I have hatched out several breeds of ducks, however, I am a Muscovy lover and have hatched mostly that species, with a 98% hatch rate. Species Incubation Temp (F.) Relative Humidity Stop Period Forced Air Humidity Last 3 Days Turning Eggs all otherDucks 28 days 99.5 70-75% 90-95% 26th day Muscovy 35-37 days 99.5 70-75% 90-95% 34th day
The Mallard derived breeds can vary from about 26 days for the bantam breeds to around 30 days for Runners. Most of the other large breeds take about 28 days, but they vary a lot more in incubation length than other breeds of poultry. They also tend to internally pip much longer in advance, sometimes up to 3 days in advance of hatching. We try to keep our temperature at around 99.3 to 99.5. We keep humidity during incubation at about 55%. That also varies a lot though as well, just monitor weight and air cell size. If they are not dehydrating enough, drop the humidity and/or spray the eggs. Depending on the breed, a few days before the hatch is due or at first sign of internal pip, we up the humidity to about 85%. This seems to work very well for us, but duck eggs tend to be harder to hatch than some other types of poultry. If you get above even 80-85% hatch rate, that is quite good.
