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