Incubation of CALL DUCKS

[jbourget]

Here i am going to start a thread for the leading months into the hatching season. Everyone can post thier experiences and failures with hatching these tiny little guys out and what methods they find to work best/ type of incubator to use. I have gathered alot of info and am going to study heavily my methods and over the next few year pinpoint my mistakes to try to get every call duckling out of the shells as possible!! so if your like me and frustrated of all the complications of this process sit back and lets talk call ducks !!!

Also stock piling silkie hens to hatch as many for me as possible, and was the only thing i used last year to hatch only a 2 dozen or so out. Im currently looking for an old Leahy cabinet bator that is digital thermostat near CT.. i have heard hand turning the call ducks twice a day is better then the auto turners wich i can imagine. makes sense thats how the hen has them in her nest. then i am going to try putting them in the egg cartons to hatch because they will be sitting upright in the shell and only have to spin to pip thus elminating the exhaustion factor. I lost many last year to this. broke the beginning of the zip then called it quits. hey im a poet and i dont even know it

 

[jbourget]

anybody???

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

We incubated in Brinsea 20's this year and average hatch rate was 75-80% using the auto turn cradles with them. I would mist once daily starting day 3 till lockdown with them. Thinking of letting a CD hen sit this next year if one goes broody. Also selling off the Brinsea bators and moving to a cabinet this next year.

 

[easttxchick]

I let my Self-Black Call hen sit a clutch after I shut the incubator down this summer-100% hatch rate with 100% healthy babies.
I am trying to get a couple of Silkie hens myself to do the incubation for me in the spring.
I have a GQF cabinet incubator and a Humidaire hatcher that I'll fire up in a couple of months as well.

 

[cat1994]

My white call duck (Angel) did a great job at her first hatch ever! She went broody on 8 eggs and 7 healthy yellow fuzz balls made it, plus she was a great mom to them all. I put the breeding pair in my breeding pen (really a rabbit hutch), and made a nest box out of a small bucket upside down with the lid still on with a hole in the side of it, filled it with straw, she accepted it right away. I separated the drake so they could just see each other as soon as she went broody so she could have some peace from him. When the lil ones hatched I took mother and ducklings inside under a heat lamp for a few days until I felt they could make it outside. Then I moved them outside, had a run in with a snake and lost two ducklings, so I moved them to a more snake proof pen and there they grew up with their mother duck until I sold them lol! Was a great first hatch experience for both me and my white call duck, some experiences were heart warming and done right funny while others were not so nice and brought me to tears, but those were the ones that taught me the most, I will most defiantly be doing it again next year.
Angel, or Snow Ball from Hell as we call her when she is broody b/c she is so bent on attacking us if we got to close to her nest, with her 7 ducklings inside under a heat lamp

Angel with her 5 ducklings left after we had a run in with a snake

 

[Soaring Chicks]

I used a Dickey 3 tray to hatch mine.
I hatched out 5 ducklings out of 8 eggs.
Not bad for shipped eggs.


cat1994 ~ cute pictures.

 

[De]

I used silkies, cochins, seramas, who was setting at the time I hatched more this year than ever do before...Also let the ducks hatch some 2 out of 3 was good moms...All of the chickens hens was good moms to them....

 

[jbourget]

Great photos!!! i find that the grey hens do the best job as moms, i even had one hen last year that raise 2 seperate clutches. it really is great when you dont have to worry about how to hatch them and you see her building a nest. i would also put eggs from better pairs under her and got some really vigorous snowys. this spring comming i have kept back 8 grey hens just for broodys as well as 12 mallard hens, 8 silkie hens, and a few buff cochin bantam hens. im still buying them though. Will also give the GQF cabinet a try so if one fails at least i dont get skunked


right now theres 4 snowy eggs in my little giant and i cant believe they are alive should hatch in 5 or 6 days if all goes well

 

[StevenW.]

I had 2 eggs in the bator, but they died.

They were so cute too..

They were all white then had the eye stripes on their head and they went all the way down their neck and back.
Still sad I lost them though.