Staggered hatch with duck eggs (am I doing it right?)

[FenDruadin]

Okay, first the disclaimer: I know that I would be much happier with a second incubator and doing staggered hatches that way. I've given that same advice many times myself. But right now dh is out of work and I'm trying to get the ducks to pay for their own feed, and ducklings sell faster in small batches, so I'm running staggered hatches for the first time in my Hovabator. Buying another incubator is out of the question.

So, with that out of the way, I want to make sure I'm doing this right and would love advice and tips and thoughts from anyone who has run a staggered hatch in the same incubator. I've read lots about it, so I think I'm on the right track, but I'm open to pointers. Here's where I am:

I have two eggs from a test batch that are due on Saturday. Then there are 22 eggs that I set two weeks after that, so they will be at 14 days on Saturday. They are all developing nicely.

I took all the eggs out of the auto turner last night and placed them in egg cartons. The 22 eggs I propped up so that they were tilted, and the 2 due to hatch I placed as far away as I could upright in their carton. I upped the humidity as far as possible (about 75% right now--the air is still dry from winter, so anything higher than that is just not possible).

I plan to turn the 22 eggs three times a day by propping the opposite side of their cartons (I already turned them once this morning). The others I will leave alone. I will fill water receptacles to keep the humidity up as necessary, always at the same time that I am opening to turn eggs. So the incubator will be opened three times a day, but no more than that.

Last night when I locked down, both of the test batch eggs were internally pipped and tapping/cheeping. One was externally pipped this morning.

I felt bad about opening the incubator and messing with the humidity, but the 22 eggs need to be turned, right?

Okay, so thoughts on all that are appreciated. Also, how do you handle cleaning after each hatch? I don't want to take the remaining eggs out for longer than necessary, but it seems like a good cleaning will be necessary to prevent bacterial build-ups over the course of summer. Can I use bleach, or will the fumes be too much without a long sitting period? Should I try hydrogen peroxide for cleaning?

Thanks so much! If I'm able to pay my feed costs *and* set aside enough for winter feed *and* save enough for another incubator, that is absolutely what I am going to do. Also, dh wants to build me a cabinet incubator. But until one of those things happens... I appreciate your help with my staggering!

 

[glenolam]

I'm hatching for the same reason you are - make them finally earn their feed!

I put chicken eggs in with duck eggs on the same day - the chicks started hatching this past tuesday 4/6 and the ducklings should start this tuesday 4/13. when the chicks started hatching, we did not turn the duck eggs as the chicks were rolling all the duck eggs around for us as they moved about and dried off.

Now that the majority has hatched (I still have about 12 eggs that probably didn't make it), I'm going to take the duck eggs out of the bator for 10-15 min while I wash it out. It'll be OK (as far as I know) for them to be out for a little while as that's what the hens do in the wild or in a regular nest, but I wouldn't keep them out for ver long.

I did start turning the duck eggs this AM as I suspect the rest of the chicken eggs aren't going to pull through, but I crossed my fingers.

I know humidity is a big thing, but in my 3 years of hatching in the incubator I haven't yet had a problem because I opened the bator to take out chicks or turn other eggs around. You just need to do it quickly and carefully to not let all the air out.

Good luck!!

 

[FenDruadin]

Thanks for that! How many eggs did you start with? Any idea why the 12 didn't make it? Just curious. Congrats on the successful hatch so far!

I have found a market for eating eggs at $4 a dozen, so I am selling some that way. But the ducklings, of course, are worth more than that *each,* so as many as I can manage to hatch (and sell--I have a waiting list, so that's not going to be a problem), the better in terms of money. I did the calculations, and based on the numbers I punched in, I think I might clear about $200 over the cost of feed for the year (that's based on only producing eggs for 8 months out of the year). Of course, that doesn't account for things like upgrades to their shelters, new stock, new equipment, etc. So it's not exactly highly lucrative, but if they can pay for their own feed well, that's better than my dog does!! lol

Thanks for your feedback--

 

[glenolam]

I have no idea what happened to the other 12. It's the first time hatching with this group - I have 2 roosters, one white silkie and 1 RIR (who is absolutely the nicest thing ever!), 10 RIR/New Hampshire Red girls, 3 black sex links, 1 buff, and 1 leg horn. The leg horn is 4 yrs and not really laying, I have no idea how old the black girls and buff are (I got them for free off craigslist) and the RIR/NHR girls are about a year old. So I took a chance that they'd all be fertile. The chicks that have hatched are mostly crossed with the RIR rooster, but I have two chicks that were crossed with the silkie! So I'm now trying to figure out who's the mom!

We had 5 silkie hens and 4 silkie roosters, but I wanted to sell them off earlier this year to stick with bigger breeds and couldn't sell off 2 roosters. One was taken by a predator recently, so now I have one lonely guy who tries so hard to get the big girls....but the little guy sure is the boss of the RIR rooster!!

I'm going to candle the duck eggs shortly to see if there's any movement or if they've filled up the eggs yet. I was selling my chicken eggs for eating for $3/doz, $2.50 if you bring an egg crate, but my luck isn't as good as yours! I only get spurts of cutomers. I did, however, sell about 3 dozen duck eggs for hatching and made $25 off those! I keep advertising on CL, and I bet once I show pics of what I hatched more people will want some.

I plan to sell these chicks (except the two crossed with the silkie) as well as any more I hatch. To be honest, I am not as disciplined when it comes to watching the humidity. My egg shells are usually pretty hard, so to me more humidity would make it easier for them to crack out and, as I mentioned, it hasn't been difficult to hatch. This is the first time so many didn't hatch and I think it was because the group is relatively young still.

Good luck - let me know what happens with the 2 test eggs!

 

[FenDruadin]

Thanks!! One of the two is pipped and started slightly expanding the pip this afternoon. Woo-hoo! The other is showing no further development, but sometimes I'll have initial pips as much as 48 hours apart, so I'm not worried yet.

I wasn't really having luck with selling the duck eggs either until I happened to become friends with a personal chef. Chefs and bakers LOVE duck eggs. She used to pay $5-8 a dozen and is tickled to pay only $4. She has friends who are chefs who will buy any extras at $5 a dozen, but so far I've only barely managed to keep her supplied.

Is there a culinary school in your area? I'm lucky that there is one here. But if you can find people who love to bake and/or cook--that's going to be your best market. Except, actually, an Asian population--the Asian markets here charge $12 a dozen for duck eggs!! I haven't been able to tap that market yet, but it's worth looking into if you know anyone with connections in that demographic.

Anyway--I'll definitely let you know how the hatch progresses. I'm anxiously waiting for another pip and for the first one to start zipping!

 

[glenolam]

Well, I am pretty sure the duck eggs survived the chick hatch. I got rid of the 12 eggs that didn't hatch. Curious me cracked one open to find a fully developed dead chick. I took the rest out without looking in each one because it would just make me mad. I'm not sure why they didn't hatch all the way. Maybe next time.

So I cleaned out the incubator and put the duck eggs back in - I more or less just rinsed the bator so it only took 5 min - those chicks sure made a mess! I candled two of the duck eggs and couldn't see anything but black - then I saw a flicker in the light which I'm sure was coming from inside the egg. So we'll see in a few days!

Here's a pic of the chicks in the bator right next to the duck eggs

Also - I noticed you said you have two caprine kids. I had three goats, an alpine/nubian cross, her son (wether) who's got a nigerian dad, and an oberhasli/nubian cross doeling - I now have 5 because my oldest doe kidded on Tuesday! She had two beautiful girls! Here's a picture of them too.