Questions about incubation

[MochaDuck]

So in thinking of incubation eggs myself next year (or later) but I want to be prepared. I have a few questions for if I do try it:
1. Can you incubate duck and chicken eggs at the same time, in the same incubator?
2. Do you have to compleatly fill your incubator, or can you just hatch a few at a time?
3. If you just hatch a few eggs, how much time does it take in a day?
4. Is it safe for the embryos to incubate them, or should you just try to have a hen brood them?

TiA all

 

[cleoandtheflock]

I have hatched 2 eggs before in an incubator so don’t worry no need to fill it up

 

[cleoandtheflock]

You can hatch duck eggs and chicken eggs together but under a broody works best

 

[Sing Brightly Bantams]

So in thinking of incubation eggs myself next year (or later) but I want to be prepared. I have a few questions for if I do try it:
1. Can you incubate duck and chicken eggs at the same time, in the same incubator?
2. Do you have to compleatly fill your incubator, or can you just hatch a few at a time?
3. If you just hatch a few eggs, how much time does it take in a day?
4. Is it safe for the embryos to incubate them, or should you just try to have a hen brood them?

TiA all

1. Yes, you can incubate duck eggs and chicken eggs together, but you should be aware that the differing humidity requirements that duck eggs and chicken eggs have may make that difficult. I have incubated them together in the past with success. Duck eggs from medium and large class breeds take twenty-eight days to hatch. Muscovies take thirty-five; Calls take around twenty-six. Chickens take twenty-one days to hatch. I would prefer to have another incubator to move the chicken eggs into for lockdown if I had inter-species sets with regularity.

2. A full set of eggs is best for purposes of temperature stability, but it is far from essential to fill your incubator.

3. I am not sure precisely what this question means. How much time does it take to do what? If you are referring to the time it takes to turn them, it does not take long. They should be turned three times per day, minimum, in equally spaced intervals. If your schedule does not allow that, I would recommend an automatic turner. Some people that I know do not turn their eggs at all. They have decent success rates, but there is substantial scientific evidence that turning regularly until day fourteen or eighteen is by far the better option for the embryo.

4. Of course, it is completely safe. Your incubator should be well-insulated and stable thermally before eggs are placed in it, but once that is situated, your hatch rates should equal that of a hen's. There are more variables and chances for error with an incubator than there are with a broody hen, so do your research and be attentive to the environmental conditions in the incubator. If you do that, there should be few hiccups in the incubation process, so to speak.