Is it just me, or are ducks trickier than chickens?

[hippie]

I am not have a very successful hatch rate with ducks in my incubator. I candle them and they all seem to be fertile and developing, but very few make it out of the shell.

 

[gabrielle1976]

I dont have your answers have you tried asking in the duck section ? They may know.

 

[SallysCrazyFarm]

Are you misting and cooling the duck eggs? That boosts hatch rates. There are some extra care to waterfowl eggs vs chickens.

 

[hippie]

I haven't been on here in awhile and didn't realize there was a duck section. I just have the eggs in the incubator with the rest of my eggs. It does a good job on chickens and guineas, but the ducks are another story. I will look into the misting and cooling though. Thanks.

 

[hippie]

They seem to be doing just fine in the incubator until sometime after week 3....then I am losing most of them within a week of the hatch date.

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

Thats funny because I have always had excellent hatch rates from waterfowl in general, ducks and geese. They've been popping out like popcorn all spring. I mist all my duck and goose eggs once a day and turn them once by hand in addition to them being in a turner.

 

[BayGoose]

Thats funny because I have always had excellent hatch rates from waterfowl in general, ducks and geese. They've been popping out like popcorn all spring. I mist all my duck and goose eggs once a day and turn them once by hand in addition to them being in a turner.

Same here. Great hatch rates with waterfowl. Almost 100% this year. I also mist the eggs everyday. I think daily misting and 15 min cooling everyday really helps a lot!

 

[hippie]

Thanks Bay Goose! I will try that because I have been very disappointed in my rates....maybe 10%. It is odd because they seem to make it for 3 weeks or so and then they die in the shell.

 

[hippie]

MISTING IT IS!!!

 

[ejctm]

Perhaps they are affected by the other eggs having shorter hatch times as they take 28 days?
Also they must have higher humidity during lockdown than chicks. Just a thought.