Help! About to start incubating

[mbadeline]

Hi there! I'm hatching ducks for the first time. I just picked up my hatching eggs, and now I'm letting them sit for ~24 hours like many people on this site advise.

What I'm wondering is, when I do put them in the incubator, should it be hot or should I let them warm up with it?
I've also heard conflicting options as to whether or not one should start out with water in the incubator for humidity or wait to look at the air cells and adjust. My incubator is still-air lil giant, with an automatic egg turner. I almost for got to ask opinions on that: should I start the egg turner as soon as I put them in, or wait longer for them to settle?
Any help/input/advice would be greatly appreciated, even if it doesn't relate to what I asked.

Thanks!

 

[paddock36]

I always run my incubator for several days before putting eggs in it. This way I can make sure the temp and humidity are correct. Also, if I put in shipped eggs then I let them set but if they are just eggs I picked up local then I don't even worry about letting them set.

 

[maccay2k]

Hello!

This is our 2nd hatch and we get the incubator up to temperature before putting the eggs in. Didn't turn out to bad, here is the st one hatching!!!

 

[Amiga]

Have you seen there are two stickies (link in blue letters near top of Duck Forum index) on hatching ducks? One is for waterfowl in general and the other is specifically for Muscovies.