Incubating Duck Eggs for the First Time...

[Barnyard]

I am really glad I found this post. I have duck eggs coming and I am clueless

 

[MissPrissy]

I put 17 duck eggs and 5 goose eggs in last night. We'll see how it goes in this new bator. Wish me luck.

 

[Barnyard]

Quote:
GOODLUCK

 

[Dances with Ducks]

Wifezilla you ain't nuts, you're a grandma in waiting!

What kind of incubator are you using?

 

[BeardedChick]

Quote:
WZ, I'm in CO and have been keeping my incubator humidity high throughout incubation even for chicken eggs. Buster is in ID with similar climate and he thought it improved his hatch rates... I have a mixed batch of duck & chicken eggs going now and the humidity is staying around 60%. I think the eggs just dry out too much internally if it's not kept high.

I am interested to know how your hatch goes, as it sounds like your humidity is running quite a bit lower than mine.

 

[Wifezilla]

My incubator is a homemade one....
https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=16572-the-incubator-irator

Since I made it out of a HUMIDOR I figured humidity would be the least of my problems. I am thinking of just getting a new hygrometer.

 

[BeardedChick]

How big is your water/sponge pan? Maybe you need more surface area to raise the humidity?

My pan is about 1/2 the 'bator floor size, and has veterinary guaze sponges in it to increase surface area.

Also a homemade bator... No webpage for it, tho.

 

[Buster]

I am hatching a couple of duck eggs that I incubated right alongside my chicken eggs and one is zipping now.

 

[Wifezilla]

The whole back wall is sponges in water. The back is designed to hold water and keep the humidity up. That is why I wonder if the hygrometer just sucks.

 

[AHappychick]

I hatched mine same as I would chickens with the temp at 99.5-100 and stopped turning the last 3 days with humidity around 70 (could not get it higher) I had the best hatch ratio I have ever had 9 out of 12 eggs and these were shipped in December when it was really cold. From my experience they were more durable (I had a few tepm spikes during incubation and also was doing a staggered hatch. All of these factors hurt my chicken eggs but did not effect the ducks. Good Luck, I will say they are messy little buggers