Hello everyone, I have hatched a great deal of ducklings this past month from my pekin ducks. They are beautiful and I have had great fertility. I have had great hatches without any deformities nor complications. my problem is that I dont know if I am setting eggs the correct way in the incubator... I dont have an automatic egg turner so I have put egg cartons inside and I put an X on the small end( top) of egg, and an O on the bottom of the egg(larger end). I have set them normally in the egg carton, small top facing ( I always keep large end up when turning due to the air bubble in egg )and I always turn them three times a day. I havent had any complications with this method of hatching but I am wondering, is this the correct way to hatch them? i have heard that duck eggs are harder to hatch than chicken eggs, is that true or not? I have had chicks hatch as well in my incubator but the way I am hatching my duck eggs does this affect hatchings if I hatch chicken eggs this way? i appreciate the help, as I have been confused for a while now. thank you.
your right about putting x and o on each egg, but the correct way is an x on one side of the egg and the o on the opposite side of the egg. Hope this helps.
I have only read about hatching ducks.... but if it aint' broke don't fix it. If you are having good hatches and ducks are supposed to be harder to hatch then chickens, I'd leave it alone.
Before I got my automatic turner, I too placed an "x" & an "o" but I put the letter on the side of the egg. Makes it easy, I would turn them first thing in the morning, as soon as I got home and then right before bedtime.
