Longshot muscovy duck egg questions

[Lugh]

I have been reading this forum for quite a while but haven't yet posted. To be as brief as possible, a muscovy laid eggs near my house in South FL and hadn't sat on them yet when a raccoon destroyed the nest. She abandoned it, but one egg was left, which I took and put in a homemade incubator. It's been four days and the egg is fertile and developing. Here are my questions:

1) I have been running between 99.4 degrees and 100 degrees with about 30% humidity. Is that ok for now?
2) How often does the egg need to be turned? I've seen people say every few hours, others who say three times a day, still others who say once per day. I don't have an autoturner so I have to turn it myself. What would you recommend?
3) Am I nuts for even attempting this, given difficulty of hatching muscovies and the fact that it's only one egg?
4) As (bad) luck would have it, I'm going on vacation next week for a week and will have to rely on a neighbor turning the egg. If I'm lucky, he'll do it once per day. At this stage of development (first week or two), will this sabotage this little guy's chances?

The egg survived a raccoon attack-- just feel like I had to give the little guy a shot!

Many thanks.

-Lugh

 

[Finny]

Its been a while since I hatched eggs, so I don't remember some of it but I do remember the humidity has to be at 55% and then 70% during hatching. The temp should be at 99.5 F.

 

[Lugh]

Thanks for the reply. I've read yinepu's wonderful article on incubating and hatching muscovies (https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/incubating-and-hatching-muscovy-eggs) several times but still had those lingering questions. The article says to hand turn the eggs at least once daily, but it's unclear whether or not that is in addition to putting the egg in an autoturner (which I don't have). And, to the best of anyone's knowledge, is it ok if the temperature fluctuates a bit, like a half degree every now and then?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thanks for the reply. I've read yinepu's wonderful article on incubating and hatching muscovies (https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/incubating-and-hatching-muscovy-eggs) several times but still had those lingering questions. The article says to hand turn the eggs at least once daily, but it's unclear whether or not that is in addition to putting the egg in an autoturner (which I don't have). And, to the best of anyone's knowledge, is it ok if the temperature fluctuates a bit, like a half degree every now and then?

I'd give yinepu a PM then you'd know first hand.