Question About Incubating Duck Eggs

[Smartie_Pants]

I want to incubate a few in my LG Still Air, and I've been reading posts on here about it. They all left me confused, because each said something different.

I've read that humidity should be anywhere from 50%-70% during hatch, and raised to 80% at pips. What should the humidity be, and rasing it to 80% is correct right?

The temp should be 99.5 at the top of the egg right?

 

[taraann81]

You will get as many different answers as you do posts! Everyone has their own way to do it. Obviously there is more than one right way.

If you have a still air you want your bator temp to be 102.

I personally would never bump the humidity to 80(at least not in my climate the ducklings would drown). I incubate at around 60-65 and I bump mine up to 72-75 for hatch.

I am lazy I don't cool my eggs and I don't spray them I have had great almost 100%hatches with scovy eggs.

I would turn them 3 times a day. Even this is not a hard and fast rule, I always attempt to turn an uneven number a day anyways

good luck

 

[Smartie_Pants]

I guess is it different for everyone. I am going to try and borrow an incubator from someone my mom works with, because mine's pretty beat up. I don't know if its still air or not, so what do you need to incubate at in a forced air?

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

Forced air is 99.5-100. A forced air incubator will have a fan.

I recommend cooling and misting the eggs starting on day 10 until you move them to the hatcher.

When I incubate my call or mandarin duck eggs, I dont moniter the humidity the first 23-24 days. I just moniter the air sacs and make sure they are at the proper size. I mist and cool daily from day 10 up. When I move them to the hatcher I keep the humidity at 75%.

 

[One Acre Wonder Farm]

There seem to be a lot of varying opinions on incubating duck eggs.

I did mine at 99.5 deg, 40-50% humidity until day 25, then stopped turning and upped the humidity into the 60s. I had all 8 of my eggs hatch.

Lots of people use higher humidity and some even mist the eggs. It stands to reason that this method would work as well because a momma duck might go for a swim and bring moisture back to the nest.

The fine line between enough humidity and too much seemed too difficult for me to judge, so I went with the lower humidity method.

It is really a matter of personal opinion and circimstance. As Taraann mentioned some people live in areas where the ambient humidity is so high that much more might drown the eggs.

At any rate, I wish you lots of luck! Cuetsy-wootsy wittle ducklings are so worth the 28 day wait!!!

ETA: for still air you may want the temps to run a little higher.