would like to hear from ducky people on this one please!

I haven't ever tried it with my duck eggs.
I hand turn my ducky eggs and I'm not crazy about the egg carton method anyway, even for chicks.

 

I do it with chicken eggs all the time but I haven't tried to hatch duck eggs but once with no luck and that was without a carton.

I did not think I would like hatching with the cartons but it has worked out great. Can't say there is less mess though.

 

I've heard that folks get better results with duck eggs on their sides. I've only done 3 hatches but had better results the 2 times the eggs were on their sides. If you want to contain the mess, you could set them in a shallow pan inside the incubator

 

When I heard of people using cartons- I worried that the material would actually take moisture from the air leaving humidity low. With chickens- humidity can be lower- but duck eggs need it really high for hatching.

I never tried it - I lay my duck eggs down as I found I got better hatch rates that way.

 

Ive never heard of the carton method, I would say try both methods and see what works best for you.

 

Quote:I had the same problem. After I tried using rubberized shelf liner and cupcake holders which were not effective enough, I got to cutting up sponges into strips and putting them between the eggs over the shelf liner sheet. That also was especially helpful at hatch when the ducklings like to play soccer.
Another thing I tried were these long plastic net baskets I found at the dollar store, but that was to separate the ducklings according to their parentage. The ducklings got out of the baskets too easily for my purposes but they would work just for keeping the eggs from rolling. I did line them with strips of the shelf liner because the floor of the baskets were solid plastic and I didn't want the ducklings to be slipping and developing spraddle leg.
I would like to experiment with making a little taller baskets out of hardware cloth this spring.

 

I love using cartons with duck eggs, and get better hatch rates than before (although there are other factors involved too, so there may not be a causal relationship there).

What I like: the ducklings can't push the unhatched eggs all over & cause them problems; it takes longer for the ducks to get out of the egg after popping off the top, which means they build more strength and coordination so they are less likely to injure themselves; I can position all the eggs where I can see where they will pip; it keeps everything orderly in the incubator. I get 80-95% hatches, so I'm pretty sure it's not messing me up too badly.

What I don't like: every once in a while, a duckling will fall asleep on top of a section of eggs that are trying to zip. This can cause the zipping eggs problems, but it's unusual because there's really only about a one-hour window during which it can cause them grief for there to be weight on top, and the weight has to stay there for an hour or more, which is unusual. But I have had it happen, and I ended up having to help all four of those zippers out of their shells--with no long-lasting ill effects, I might add.

Humidity really isn't an issue. I use styrofoam usually because it's easier to make sure it's really clean. When I use cardboard, it actually tends to raise the humidity because if it comes in contact with water, it wicks it up and then releases it much faster (remember that it's surface area, not volume, that raises humidity), so I end up with really high humidity. But I don't like the moisture being held right against the eggs by the cardboard, so I use styrofoam most often.