Help! I have no clue on how to incubate my duck eggs

Jan 19, 2025
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Hi all, I have a problem and need some advice. I had a Call Duck go broody and she was sitting on a few eggs. Well she decided she doesn't want to sit on her eggs anymore, and I was not prepared. I candled the eggs and one is about 8 days old and the other is about 19 days old(I'm assuming that another one of my females laid an egg in her nest which explains the difference in age) the rest of the eggs were either infertile or dead. I have the eggs in a manna pro incubator at 99.5 degrees Fahrenheit and a humidity of 58, but Im not sure how to handle the difference in age when lockdown starts for the older duckling. I've done a lot of research, but I need advice/guidance on how to do this. I raise ducks but usually the mother hatches them out for me so I've never needed an incubator. I just don't want to hurt or kill the younger duckling when the older one goes into lockdown. Please help.
 
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Thank you, GodLovesU. Great link and lovely name!

CrazyDuckLady2010 - In our brood that was tossed by a coyote and we had to scramble to set something up and the incubator we borrowed did not turn them (I work more than full time), the Mallard ducks took 48+ days to hatch and then a good 93 hours from the 1st egg to the 9th hatching. This is way longer in timing that is excepted, albeit they all hatched and grew into lovely ladies. They may not have been the best for breeding due to this trauma as noted in the link above. We turned up the humidity when our calculations estimated they should be hatching so the humidity was high for much of their incubation (15 days or more!) But we are in a very dry desert - Phoenix area. When the down was dry on the new hatchling, I took it out and placed in the hatchery. There are some websites that will tell you want to expect more specifically to your breed. There can be a huge variance between breeds. Have Fun and many Blessings!!!
 

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