Hatching Questions

[MagpieDucks]

Hello!

I prefer to hand turn my duck eggs. In a couple of weeks I'm going to start incubating 2 dozen Magpie eggs. What is the largest number of eggs you would hand turn, before you would switch over to an auto-turner?

Thanks!

 

[JaeG]

Think how long a mother duck or hen gets off her eggs when she takes a break. It's generally around 20 minutes or so. It's not going to take you that long to turn 24 eggs and duck eggs will retain their heat much longer than smaller eggs. I'm hand turning 25 Button quail eggs at present and they are coping just fine.

Good luck with your hatch. Magpie ducks are so pretty.

 

[MagpieDucks]

Think how long a mother duck or hen gets off her eggs when she takes a break. It's generally around 20 minutes or so. It's not going to take you that long to turn 24 eggs and duck eggs will retain their heat much longer than smaller eggs. I'm hand turning 25 Button quail eggs at present and they are coping just fine.

Good luck with your hatch. Magpie ducks are so pretty.

That makes sense. Thanks Jaeg! I'm sure I'll have more questions. This is my second Hatch.

 

[lazy gardener]

Imo, it's a matter of convenience. Do you have an electric turner? If so, you could use it, or not.

I don't have one, so my decision is pretty simple: hand turn, until I get around to making a semi automatic turner (one powered by human muscle). I don't find it difficult to hand turn, and while turning (I incubate in egg cartons, so it's a matter of tilting the cartons) I can also rotate the eggs through warm/cool zones in the bator to ensure that they all "cook" evenly. My hatches are usually around 90%.

 

[MagpieDucks]

Imo, it's a matter of convenience. Do you have an electric turner? If so, you could use it, or not.

I don't have one, so my decision is pretty simple: hand turn, until I get around to making a semi automatic turner (one powered by human muscle). I don't find it difficult to hand turn, and while turning (I incubate in egg cartons, so it's a matter of tilting the cartons) I can also rotate the eggs through warm/cool zones in the bator to ensure that they all "cook" evenly. My hatches are usually around 90%.

I don't but I could easily order one. I don't mind hand turning and I have the time to do it. I wasn't to happy with my last Hatch rate. 13% assisted. . But then again, they were Calls out of season. And the person that was in charge of turning them when I was gone for a week forgot to turn them for the first half of the week. I also had 4 Magpies from my own birds in there. Their season was tapering off too. Only one made it to lockdown, it got into position did an IP and died. One of the Calls did that same thing. The 2 that I hatched were assisted. So...hopefully this hatch will be better. I got an 100% rate with my Magpie eggs under a broody. Do you think I would get a better Hatch rate if I incubated in cartons?

What does everybody think about misting? I usually do it, eve during lockdown. But now I'm hearing that it actually draws moisture out of the egg?


One more question that I can think of right now. Eggs are supposed to lose 13% to 15% of their weight from day one to lockdown, correct? Does it matter how rapidly they lose the weight? Is their a guide as to how fast they should lose the weight? Or is it better to go by air cell size?

Thanks!

 

[lazy gardener]

I've never hatched ducks, unless you count 2 broodies who shared a nest and hatched 24 ducklings between them. I've heard that calls are particularly difficult? short beaks???

 

[ButtonquailGirl14]

cool!!!! i did that.... exept 46. bad inqubator. only 16 hatched. and my friends accidentally killed 3.

 

[ButtonquailGirl14]

cool!!! i did that...... only 46. only 16 hatched and my friends accidentally killed 3

Think how long a mother duck or hen gets off her eggs when she takes a break. It's generally around 20 minutes or so. It's not going to take you that long to turn 24 eggs and duck eggs will retain their heat much longer than smaller eggs. I'm hand turning 25 Button quail eggs at present and they are coping just fine.

Good luck with your hatch. Magpie ducks are so pretty.

 

[JaeG]

I don't but I could easily order one. I don't mind hand turning and I have the time to do it. I wasn't to happy with my last Hatch rate. 13% assisted. . But then again, they were Calls out of season. And the person that was in charge of turning them when I was gone for a week forgot to turn them for the first half of the week. I also had 4 Magpies from my own birds in there. Their season was tapering off too. Only one made it to lockdown, it got into position did an IP and died. One of the Calls did that same thing. The 2 that I hatched were assisted. So...hopefully this hatch will be better. I got an 100% rate with my Magpie eggs under a broody. Do you think I would get a better Hatch rate if I incubated in cartons?

What does everybody think about misting? I usually do it, eve during lockdown. But now I'm hearing that it actually draws moisture out of the egg?


One more question that I can think of right now. Eggs are supposed to lose 13% to 15% of their weight from day one to lockdown, correct? Does it matter how rapidly they lose the weight? Is their a guide as to how fast they should lose the weight? Or is it better to go by air cell size?

Thanks!

That's rough! I'd go by the air cell as that's the most important thing - ensuring there's enough space and air in there to sustain the baby until it can pip externally. I've never weighed eggs but then again my (quail) eggs weigh 6 grams to start with! I'd need a much more accurate set of scales to monitor weight loss.

I'm not sure about misting. Ask on the duck forum.

 

[MagpieDucks]

I've never hatched ducks, unless you count 2 broodies who shared a nest and hatched 24 ducklings between them. I've heard that calls are particularly difficult? short beaks???

Yep! Short bills, short beck, and they were out of season. . Fertility was bad. Only 3 out of 11 were fertile.