I put my first group of eggs in the incubator last night. The lady that we bought the incubator from said do not turn on the auto egg turner for 3 days... Is that right? I don't want to mess up my little darlings. Thanks
If the eggs are shipped, it's best to let them rest, fat-end up for 24 to 48 hours before setting. Once set in the incubator, they can be turned from the start. If the eggs didn't travel very far at all, they can be turned regularly from the very first day.
Did you set them all at once, or as you collected? Might seem like a minor detail to a new hatcher, but it makes a big difference when it comes time to raise the humidity for lockdown.
I collected them over 3 days and put them in the incubator all at one time. We do have 1 duck egg that was given to us by a friend. I know they are 28 days vs. the 21 days for chickens. I'm a little stumped on how do I keep the humidity correct for the chickens to hatch at 21 days but not mess up the duck egg. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Hatching duck eggs with chicken eggs is not recommended, even for an experienced person. The humidity needs are just too different, and the incubation times are different as well.
I know a handful of hatchers that hatch the two together, but they set the duck eggs a week before setting the chicken eggs so that the hatch day lines up. Most of the duck hatchers that I know hatch at the same humidity levels for their ducks as they do their chickens.