New to hatching

CountryGirl1120

In the Brooder
Jul 1, 2016
91
8
38
Middle of Nowhere New York
Okay my plan is to hopefully get a incubator and try my hand at hatching duck eggs next year. Only problem is I have no idea where to start and everything I've read on here gets me super confused. So I figured I would gather as much information as I can early on.

Is there anyone that can point me in the semi right direction for this? Maybe a thread out there that isnt super confusing for me to understand?

Or can anyone give me some hatching for dummies instructions?

I have never thought about hatching before but I am very interested in the Ancona duck breed and for my situation it is easier for me to get hatching eggs versus ducklings.
 
Thank you! I'm going to do plenty of reading up first before I attempt anything! Any suggestions on a decently priced but good incubator?
For midline incubator, the Hovabator. Many people recommend the 1588, it's all digital. If you need to save a few bucks the 1583 is about the same, just not digital. The Brnsea is a highly recommended bator, but pricey with half the capacity.
I'm going to throw another link at you, it follows the hatching 411 link that Ruby gave you, (which is my go to method) but concentrates on humidity for a better understanding of why and what humidity is needed for. It's written from a chicken hatching view, but can be used for ducks, just with a dfferent pictorial, that I will add here if I can find it. The link is: http://letsraisechickens.weebly.com...anuals-understanding-and-controlling-humidity

 
For midline incubator, the Hovabator. Many people recommend the 1588, it's all digital. If you need to save a few bucks the 1583 is about the same, just not digital. The Brnsea is a highly recommended bator, but pricey with half the capacity.
I'm going to throw another link at you, it follows the hatching 411 link that Ruby gave you, (which is my go to method) but concentrates on humidity for a better understanding of why and what humidity is needed for. It's written from a chicken hatching view, but can be used for ducks, just with a dfferent pictorial, that I will add here if I can find it. The link is: http://letsraisechickens.weebly.com...anuals-understanding-and-controlling-humidity

Thank you so much! Im going to have to check those out. I've heard a lot about the Hovabator just wanted to get some opinions from people who have hatched before before I bought my own. Im super excited to hopefully start my own hatching journey. And if the ducks go well, well then I may need to get a rooster for my chickens. Chicken math after all :)
 
Thank you so much! Im going to have to check those out. I've heard a lot about the Hovabator just wanted to get some opinions from people who have hatched before before I bought my own. Im super excited to hopefully start my own hatching journey. And if the ducks go well, well then I may need to get a rooster for my chickens. Chicken math after all :)
Once you have your first successfull hatch it gets very addicting...lol That's why I never recommend the "mini" incubators....lol And hatching your own eggs from your own hens, especially the first time, is very exciting. You'll have to start a thread when you decide to hatch so we can see how it goes!!
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I have not done duck eggs yet, I am just barely patient enough for chickens to hatch..lol Not only is incubation time longer for ducks, but the hatching progress itself can take double the amount of time. I have guineas in the bator now just over two weeks that I am hatching for my nephew and they are pushing my patience, well, them and the bator is being wonky and needs to be replaced...lol
 
Once you have your first successfull hatch it gets very addicting...lol That's why I never recommend the "mini" incubators....lol And hatching your own eggs from your own hens, especially the first time, is very exciting. You'll have to start a thread when you decide to hatch so we can see how it goes!!
wink.png
I have not done duck eggs yet, I am just barely patient enough for chickens to hatch..lol Not only is incubation time longer for ducks, but the hatching progress itself can take double the amount of time. I have guineas in the bator now just over two weeks that I am hatching for my nephew and they are pushing my patience, well, them and the bator is being wonky and needs to be replaced...lol
Oh thats sad about the wonky bator! Guineas though! I would love some of them. I would start with chickens but when I got ducks at TSC this year I ended up with only 1 girl out of the 6 I bought and have never had the need for a rooster! So I decided to keep 1 of the males and try my hand at hatching some more. Not sure if ducklings would sell well near but I figured I could always have meat ducks worse come to worse. I will be sure to start one. Probably wont be until spring next year that I try my hand out at it. The hatching takes double the time? Do you know why that is?
 
Oh thats sad about the wonky bator! Guineas though! I would love some of them. I would start with chickens but when I got ducks at TSC this year I ended up with only 1 girl out of the 6 I bought and have never had the need for a rooster! So I decided to keep 1 of the males and try my hand at hatching some more. Not sure if ducklings would sell well near but I figured I could always have meat ducks worse come to worse. I will be sure to start one. Probably wont be until spring next year that I try my hand out at it. The hatching takes double the time? Do you know why that is?
The guineas are a favor for my nephew. I have no interest in Guineas...lol I plan to, if everything goes alright, get the Hovabator 1583 before spring.

I do not know why. I know that the time between internal pip to external can be double as well as external to zip. I don't know if I'd survive the wait...lol
 
The guineas are a favor for my nephew. I have no interest in Guineas...lol I plan to, if everything goes alright, get the Hovabator 1583 before spring.

I do not know why. I know that the time between internal pip to external can be double as well as external to zip. I don't know if I'd survive the wait...lol
I never had any interest in guineas until like last year. But unfortunately every place I can order them from wants you to order like 25. I dont want 25. I was just looking at the Hovabators a bit ago. I was thinking about getting one of the 1602 models. Only because for me they arent as pricey. Any ideas if one of those would work well?

I didnt not know that about ducks. Ugh. Means if I have a successful hatch I'm going to be a nervous wreck around that time! I hate even waiting for chicks to come in the mail! My whole idea behind hatching my own was to at least take the guessing out of how many would survive shipping. Not that I have ever had any bad experiences with the places I have ordered from yet, but I would also like to have my own self sustaining farm of sorts as well. Being able to hatch out my own birds would be amazing!
 
I never had any interest in guineas until like last year. But unfortunately every place I can order them from wants you to order like 25. I dont want 25. I was just looking at the Hovabators a bit ago. I was thinking about getting one of the 1602 models. Only because for me they arent as pricey. Any ideas if one of those would work well?

I didnt not know that about ducks. Ugh. Means if I have a successful hatch I'm going to be a nervous wreck around that time! I hate even waiting for chicks to come in the mail! My whole idea behind hatching my own was to at least take the guessing out of how many would survive shipping. Not that I have ever had any bad experiences with the places I have ordered from yet, but I would also like to have my own self sustaining farm of sorts as well. Being able to hatch out my own birds would be amazing!
Hatching is amazing. I know quite a few that use or have used the 1602 that highly praise them as well. I don't think I've heard a wide range of negative things about any of their models. Of course you have a hatcher here and there with any brand that have not had good "luck" with their incubator, but you never know how much is operator error or maybe a bad unit.

Now the new digital little Giants that TSC sells...oh boy, you're doing good when you find someone that has bought one and not regreted it...lol (There are a few but they are hard to find...lol) And the Farm Innovators, has a slightly better rep, but still no where near the Hovabators and Brinseas. I know a couple people that really love their Incuview incubators as well, but I don't see a lot of people with them.

I myself have an old Little Giant 9200 that I "borrowed" from my sister two years ago and she had it for at least 3 years before I stole borrowed it. And they are not known for longevity, so I can't complain it's finally hitting the brocks. It's served me well. A lot more work than some of your other bators and a lot more babysitting, but I've only had one bad hatch and that was my very first one, and that was operator error not incubator error. I had bought a new thermometer for it and never checked it for accuracy, plus I had my humidity at the highly recommended 50-60% that is touted in manuals and books that is soooooo wrong. After a failed attempt with 1 chick hatching out of 17 that went into lockdown and hatching day 24 I was told to check my thermometer, and sure enough it was 6 degrees off!!! I fixed that problem, (bought three new ones and checked them,) and researched humidity and switched to low humidity incubations and have not had a bad hatch since. (Well, providing the bator don't kill the eggs...)

At some point we want to do quail, but I need an enclosed set up before that happens.
 

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