Not a really a question but an observation

[Isabella Mcadams]

Hello all!
I’m currently incubating 5 Welsh Harlequin/Pekin duck eggs and I’m curious about success rates for everyone else.

I hatched a batch of 6 a few years ago with a 100% success rate, and so far, with the five eggs I‘m incubating now everything is going along very smoothly; they are in lockdown now, and all are still healthy.

For both incubations I opted to do a DIY incubator using a styrofoam cooler and a lightbulb. I researched a lot online regarding hatching methods, and although I did not find a lot of material on hatching eggs with a homemade incubator, I did find that most (if not all) had had a 50-60% hatch rate with a store-bought incubator. One would think that a more controlled environment would have a larger hatch rate, but that’s not what I found.

So here’s my question: for all of you who have used both methods (homemade and store-bought incubators) have you noticed a difference in hatch rates?

And here’s my amateur theory: perhaps a strictly controlled environment isn’t best for hatching. After all, nature isn’t as consistent as a store-bought incubator, right? So maybe because DIY incubators DO vary in temp and humidity (much like the natural environment) hatch rates are higher.

Let me know what you all think!

~Isabella

 

[cheezenkwackers]

How are you controlling the temperature? I use an old styrofoam incubator but I have added an external thermostat. It turns out that most cheap incubators have timers instead of thermostats. I also incubate dry, only adding water at lockdown. I have had 100% hatches for ducklings my last three hatches. I’m thinking it might be more about fresh eggs and not too much moisture.

 

[Isabella Mcadams]

How are you controlling the temperature? I use an old styrofoam incubator but I have added an external thermostat. It turns out that most cheap incubators have timers instead of thermostats. I also incubate dry, only adding water at lockdown. I have had 100% hatches for ducklings my last three hatches. I’m thinking it might be more about fresh eggs and not too much moisture.

I’m using a 40 watt light bulb, and to keep the temp stable, I cut out large windows in the sides of the styrofoam cooler, and secured plastic wrap to make humidity-tight windows. If it gets too cold, I replace the cut out styrofoam pieces, and if it gets to hot I poke ventilation holes through the styrofoam. I try to keep the humidity around 50% until lockdown, then I keep it around80%, but like I said, it varies a bit.

For both batches of eggs that I’ve done, I’ve used eggs that were over a week old, and some that had been in the fridge for 2+ days.