well.. muscovy eggs are handled differently than chicken or turkey... so you would have to modify things for them
and Incubating Muscovys is a bit different than regular ducks...
they can take from 33-37 days incubation.. so don't give up on them until after day 37
basically the temp would be 99.5 (if I remember right you are using forced air bators)
don't add any water to the bator at first.. so go dry until you check the air cells and weights
do you have a good gram scale?.. if not you;ll need one .. muscovys need to lose around 2.8% of their weight per week.. you can also monitor air cells.. but I find weighing is a bit more accurate.. for shipped eggs you will need to monitor the air cells by holding a bright light to the tops of the eggs during the first two weeks since you won't be able to remove them for weighing... adjust the humidity as needed based on the info you get from the eggs
when you first get the eggs you have to candle them.. take note of any damaged air cells and mark the eggs accordingly.. However for best results assume that all muscovy eggs are damaged.. by marking the ones with loose air cells or detached ones you will know which will need to be handled carefully as they progress through incubation.. also mark them with the usual X and O even though they will be autoturned.. I'll explain why in a bit
I number each of the eggs and also write the weight on the egg as well... makes things easier for when you do weigh them again
MOST of the guides you'll find cite 80+% humidity for incubation for muscovys.. if you follow that you will have dead in shell ducklings at hatch.. Originally it was supposed to be around 80 - 84 º WET BULB.. but when people started passing around the info they forgot that it was a wet bulb measure and said it was % instead.. (which is one reason why so many muscovy hatches fail).. so forget everything you have ready about muscovys and humidity since 99% of it is wrong
try to go with LOW humidity during incubation (only increasing it if the air cells start to grow too large too quickly or if the weight loss is too rapid)
all shipped eggs should be incubated for the first 36 to 48 hours standing upright (pointy end down) and NOT TURNED for those first 36 to 48 hours
after the first 48 hours has passed you can turn on the autoturner... they still need to be upright and autoturned for best results...
after day 15 you will still leave them in the autoturner.. but you can lay them GENTLY on their sides or tilt them at a 45º angle... remember that the tissue inside will still be delicate.. and if handled wrong you can still kill the embryo.. once on their sides or tilted to the side they should be turned once a day by hand.. so if the X is on the side facing up.. turn them once a day so that the opposite side is facing up and so on
You can mist and cool them once a day after day 10 (cooling for 10 to 15 minutes a day) if the air cells are in good shape.. however misting them will also cause more evaporation from the eggs.. so if the air cells (or weight) is too great hold off on the misting.. the misting is more important during the last two weeks.. (I'm experimenting with an additive to be added to the water .. it should increase hatch rates even more for most people and also increase the health and hardiness of the ducklings after hatch)
for temps.. 99.5 degrees until the first internal pip.. then I drop the temp down to 98 to 98.5 and increase humidity to 60% or better.. also after the eggs are internally pipped if they are not already laying on their sides.. they should be.. if you have a separate hatcher without a fan then that's even better
for shipped chicken and turkey eggs you can still use some of the methods I have listed.. I haven't tried them on chickens or turkeys yet.. but I plan to with the next batch of chicken eggs that I order since it appears that the thicker albumen is getting damaged in too many of the shipped chicken eggs that I have received.. I got in 13 BLRW eggs a few weeks back that looked really good when I candled them.. however very few have made it to lockdown.. considering how well my shipped muscovy eggs have been doing I think I will try experimenting with the chicken eggs next.. normally I get at least a 50% hatch rate on shipped chicken eggs.. this batch is going to be a bit lower.
lol.. i really need to make my muscovy page.. it's easier than typing everything out each time (and I don't even have the info here for home grown muscovy eggs)!
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