How to hatch?

[dalmation1080]

I have raised chickens & Ducks for almost 10 years now, but I have never actually bred, incubated and hatched my own eggs. The past few years I have been raising a lot of ducks, Mostly Mallards. I have gotten a few very good awards from shows, including a Grand Champion for all waterfowl for a mallard drake and a Reserve Champion for a mallard duck. I'd love to breed theese two birds next year. But The male is 3 years old and the female isnt quite a year old yet. Im worried she will still be to young next year and the drake will be to old.

I'd love information on how to breed the ducks, how to gather the eggs, the incubation process and hatching. I dont have a incubator yet, and I'd love some feedback on small, inexpensive incubators that work well!

Thank you!
~Kelsey

 

[bigoledude]

1. Breeding ducks for show; Get a "Standard of Perfection" and choose the best birds you have for breeding stock. Or, buy ducks that come closer to the SOP and breed them. Some ducks perform better with different duck-to-drake ratios. Read-up on that breed.

2. Gathering eggs is simple. It is actually best if you can keep them a little cooler than average room temp. I keep mine around 67 degrees because that's what I keep my house temp at. Most folks agree that 10 days is about max on how long to keep them before starting them in the incubator. I've read here where people have kept eggs a lot longer and had some hatch. The freshest eggs in the incubator will give you the best hatching percentages. Store them with large end up.

3. This is MY favorite tutorial and expert on hatching
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=491013

If you ever have birds that are expensive or special and they need help hatching, this article by the same guy has saved me a small bundle of money. I don't know why so many people here insist that it is usually a waste of time to "intervene".
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=472294

There are many folks here at BYC who can assist you with expert advice on incubating eggs. My technique is a combination of probably a dozen BYC members advice. Read, read and read some more!

I'm not the person to recommend a store-bought incubator for you. I built my own and it works flawlessly. Building your own can be less expensive. But, if you're gonna buy one, I suggest a forced air incubator. And, lastly buy one larger than you think you might need. I've never heard of anyone who regretted buying a too-big incubator!

 

[Easter eggers]

I love my little giant forced air incubator and it was cheap

 

[XxPandaxX]

I don't know much about ducks, but I DO know a lot about incubation.

Duck eggs are actually harder to hatch than chicken eggs, because they're so sensitive. But anyway. I know nothing of duck breeding/mating. I'm not sure if you handle the eggs the same as chicken eggs. However. Incubation is kind of my thing. Incubators need a few key things. They maintain the temperature and the humidity (for simple incubators, I'm not sure about bigger ones for hundreds of eggs). There are plenty of things to keep in mind ! Do you want a still air or a forced air incubator? Still air is basically an incubator without a fan. Again, I believe this is more common with smaller amounts of eggs. Forced air is WITH a fan. This keeps the air pushing around, and is meant to eliminate cold and hot spots, so your eggs do not develop at dramatically different rates. Do you want an automatic egg turner, or can you do it yourself? Again, choice one is for small amounts, 2 is for the fancy or people with a large amount of eggs. You can look at home made incubators on BYC. They show you how to build it, and pictures and everything. I got ideas to make my own from there. Also, you can PM a user called "Quintinp". He/She's really good with incubators.