Homesteadin
Chirping
- Mar 16, 2015
- 405
- 10
- 83
First time incubating eggs - I received 9 well-packaged, shipped khaki campbell duck eggs and started incubating them after a day of resting large end up. But I'm one of those weirdo DIYers who rigged a food dehydrator instead of forking out the money for an incubator. I had heard about people particularly having success using an excalibur dehydrator for incubation, which is what i have. Except, mine only has a lowest temp setting of 105... So I have it well-ventihlated to let extra heat escape, water pans inside for humidity, rocks strategically placed as heat sinkers (since the dehydrator itself fluctuates, and it has a fan for circulation. So far it is staying around 39 degrees celsius pretty consistently. Turning them every 3 hours. Planning on doing the cooling and misting thing once a day starting on day 10, today is day 5.
I am finding I have made several mistakes, though, that I am pretty paranoid about. A couple of times I turned the eggs without washing my hands first, not really thinking anything of it - then read about how the shells no longer have their protective bloom once incubation starts, so clean hands are very important. :/ Has anyone made that mistake as well and still had a good hatch?
I also sprayed them a couple days in a row just for moisture because i hadn't realized my water pans had run out pretty fast one day, but one of those times of spraying I mistook the water-mixed-with-a-little-vinegar for surface cleaning spray for the pure water one. Is that bad? Sure doesn't sound good to me to think of vinegar seeping inside those eggs.
AND finally, there were a couple times when, even though the thermometer read the right temp, a few of the eggs felt particularly warm - almost hot, and had been that way for probably 6-8 hrs. Through this I discovered there's a hot spot in the dehydrator and now have the eggs placed in such a way that they stay pretty evenly warm. And I'm rotating them when I turn them. Anyone had a temperature spike happen during incubation, and what was the outcome?
I am finding I have made several mistakes, though, that I am pretty paranoid about. A couple of times I turned the eggs without washing my hands first, not really thinking anything of it - then read about how the shells no longer have their protective bloom once incubation starts, so clean hands are very important. :/ Has anyone made that mistake as well and still had a good hatch?
I also sprayed them a couple days in a row just for moisture because i hadn't realized my water pans had run out pretty fast one day, but one of those times of spraying I mistook the water-mixed-with-a-little-vinegar for surface cleaning spray for the pure water one. Is that bad? Sure doesn't sound good to me to think of vinegar seeping inside those eggs.
AND finally, there were a couple times when, even though the thermometer read the right temp, a few of the eggs felt particularly warm - almost hot, and had been that way for probably 6-8 hrs. Through this I discovered there's a hot spot in the dehydrator and now have the eggs placed in such a way that they stay pretty evenly warm. And I'm rotating them when I turn them. Anyone had a temperature spike happen during incubation, and what was the outcome?