Hen and duck eggs hatch together??

[randerson846]

I went to my friend today and he gave me 18 fertile hen eggs, and he gave me 3 fertile duck eggs as well and I don't want them to go to waste, as I also wanted to hatch them so what do I do, can I hatch them together or what.
(I have a sixty egg incubator so space isn't a problem) Help!

 

[bugflipper]

Yes no problem at all. Many people have many different ways they like to hatch duck eggs. I've never had a problem with them just being in with chicken eggs at the normal humidity level. Some people like to raise the humidity level or spritz them with water once a day. I don't go through all of that personally because on the farm when I was a child the chickens hatched duck eggs just fine and never went for a daily swim.

 

[randerson846]

So do I start the eggs seven days before I put the chicks in and keep the humidity the same as for hatching chicks( including lockdown) But what about the eggs will there hatch rate not go down :/

 

[bugflipper]

Ideally you would want to stagger the dates but fertility goes down slightly with each day and personally I wouldn't want to hold the chicken eggs that long before setting. I normally keep incubators going all season and just add eggs as there are openings for them after a hatch. No big deal on brooding. Ducks are clumsy anyways. Your chicks will be a little bit bigger for the new ducks to bump and fall into them.

Right now I have 75 quail and 12 dutch bantams due next Thursday and 11 call ducks the following Thursday in one. I have the humidity at 50% for 18 days then 65% for lockdown. The duck eggs still turning. Then clean the liner after hatch and back to 50% until 3 days before, lockdown at 65% again. Same results if no hatch in between and just 25 days of 50% then 3 of 65%. I run dickey's and gqf cabinets and a gqf styrofoam 1588. Hatch rates are normally in the upper 90% range. The last one was 12 out of 12 for call ducks. I candled tonight and everything looks good crossing fingers for 11 out of 11 this time.
Good luck.

 

[randerson846]

I have gotten some shipped which arrived on Thursday (30 eggs) and I got some from a friend on Friday (18 hen 3 duck) and my incubator should arrive on Monday (bad timing ) but then I have to put the duck eggs in on Monday and then the chicken eggs aweek later, will they be fine to hatch ?