Incubating call ducks and humidity.

[Knighstar679]

So everything I have read says call duck eggs need a higher humidity than say Welsh eggs. I am looking at air cells going into week three here and they are not all near where they need to be. So can I run the incubator mostly dry for a few days and not kill all these eggs to help fix this or am i asking for them to die by doing that.

just for points of reference my incubator has been running at 99.5 and humidity was at 50% for the first week. 45-50% most of this week and the last bit I have been trying to do 38-42%.

I am wondering if running it at 26-36% for the next few days would be ok. I also would be cooling and misting them once a day at night.

Thanks!

 

[JaeG]

They'll be absolutely fine at a lower humidity. Good luck!

 

[Isaac 0]

Do you have there starting weight? I don't think running dry for a few days would be good, especially since lockdown is coming. I would just run slightly lower humidity than you are now.

 

[chickens really]

Yes..Run it lower for a few days. As soon as you see the air cells are correct put the humidity back up. I set my Humidity to 40% the entire incubation and lockdown at 60%.
Call duck eggs are no different than hatching other eggs.
Try 30% for a couple of days.

 

[Knighstar679]

Thanks I will try running at 35% for a few days. I don’t have a scale to weigh my eggs so I have to go by air cell size.

 

[chickens really]

Thanks I will try running at 35% for a few days. I don’t have a scale to weigh my eggs so I have to go by air cell size.

That's all I do. I never use a scale.

 

[Isaac 0]

Thanks I will try running at 35% for a few days. I don’t have a scale to weigh my eggs so I have to go by air cell size.

Well, you know next time too, 13% loss in weight over 26 day period. Comes in handy sometimes.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Do you have pictures of the parents of your call eggs @Knighstar679 I’d love to see?

 

[casportpony]

Well, you know next time too, 13% loss in weight over 26 day period. Comes in handy sometimes.

Good to know since I just set one Call egg.
Edited to add:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/call-duck-egg-incubation-experiment.1354218/

 

[Knighstar679]

Do you have pictures of the parents of your call eggs @Knighstar679 I’d love to see?

they are on my thread of my call duck adventure. For who some of the parents might look like.