Noel, I’m so sorry you had a tough time reaching me by email! Regardless, of the “why” I can definitely attest that it helps me get very high hatch rates. What if I didn’t mist at all? If you don’t mind shooting me a quick comment back with those answers, I would love to help in any way I can! They will be totally fine! I know it will be like some kind of united nations assembly for ducklings, but how can I handle muscovies because they seem to have longer incubation period? I know about the amount of days are different but what about the development inside the egg. ), so I put down my notes, and thought I’d come answer today’s comments. They are egg producers and layers. Keep in mind that the timing of hatching is going to vary based on incubator temperature and egg size. My first batch is always mixed as I like to see what they produce. What is your advice on that? Not all eggs in a nestbox always hatch. This post contains affiliate links. I have reduced the water to the point that there is only about 20 – 30ml in the water chamber. So the smaller end is what sits in the egg turner. You could even email me directly if that is better for you. By the end of that summer, I’d solidified my duckling hatching method. We've let her be, kept out of her way and not touched the nest, but it's now been over 40 days and no ducklings. Hi Arun! my duck eggs from first stages of growth to hatching - YouTube I have the hover incubator but how do I know what the humidity is. It’s going to be ok – ducklings are resilient, I bet you’ll still get a good hatch. Best of luck!!!! I’m short of putting in just drops or running the incubator dry in order to get a lower humidity. Thank you so much for sharing your experience, appreciate it so much! Thanks for your post. Brand New. Whether you’re looking to hatch a few eggs to perpetuate your own backyard flock, or you’re starting a small hatching operation to earn some extra income from home – I really do hope these tips help you to have great hatch! Incubators that were a little cooler (say, 98.5 instead of 99.5) will take a little longer as well. Newly hatched duckling using another’s egg as a pillow. If I purchase the Hova-bater without the egg turner would me opening to turn them 3 times a day be a problem with the temp and humidity? Upon hatching they can huddle for warmth, moving to the outer edges if too warm, or inwards if chilled. Hi Noel! I have a lot of people who like the backyard mixing. If you have any questions as the hatch progresses, don’t hesitate to drop a line! Inspecting the Eggs Touch the eggs to see if they feel warm. My fingers are crossed for you, and I hope you’ll come back and tell us about how your babies are doing when they hatch! She’s getting great hatch rates now. And I experimented a little. The biggest factors are your temp and humidity, so if those are staying solid for you, you’re already winning at this. With the help of our partner hatcheries, we can ensure you’re receiving the highest quality duck eggs available. When I raised mallards back in 1993-1998, I did some experimenting where I gently washed the eggs in warm water to knock off the dirt (if any), then wiped the eggs with a cotton ball with room temperature 90% rubbing alcohol. Good luck, I’m excited for you, and hope you have a wonderful hatch!! You can reach me any time at [email protected] , and I hope that I can help with your questions! By the next morning, they were all sold. I’ve had success both ways. The more I hatched, the better my hatch rates got. And you know what? We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. I currently have 2 heritage breeds. Special Note about Duck / Goose Eggs: Dave Holderread in his book, 'Storey's Guide to RAISING DUCKS" recommends that duck / goose eggs be sprayed or sprinkled with warm water to prevent the egg membranes from drying out and becoming tough during the hatch (potentially resulting in "dead-in-shells). Hope this helps! I want to share this information with my students. ), I consistently got 100% hatches. He recommends spraying or sprinkling these eggs with warm water (about 100 … The air sac changes slowly at first. I wouldn’t give up hope yet! 1st question: I have an incubator with automatic turner, but not sure which end should be set upwards in the incubator. ~ Anna. Hi Kristen, if they’re still close to hatch, they’re beginning to generate their own body heat, so I wouldn’t give up hope yet. **WILL NOT HATCH** Pekin ducks eggs. Your email address will not be published. If the air sack is too big, your incubator humidity is too low. Unless it seems clear that they’re not viable (stinky, obvious dark liquid sloshing…) I would give them a quick gentle wipe to remove any “hatching goo”, then return them to the incubator. Also, is there a problem with opening the incubator to add water or to turn? If I’m planning to manually turn the duck eggs, I leave out the egg turner entirely. AH!! I didn’t need that many, so I posted them in my Facebook farming group. What should I do? I hope these tips will help answer any questions you have about how to hatch duck eggs, and that soon you’ll have your own adorable fluff-balls peeping and cheeping away! Start incubating duck eggs within two weeks of when your first egg is harvested (or sooner when possible). I’m wishing you an amazing hatch the next time around and if I can answer any questions along the way, don’t hesitate to ask! The only thing I would add is handle your hatching eggs with clean hands! But, since duck egg incubation is from 21 to 31 days, wait a … Heat lamps, pads etc are handy, but often not ideal at meeting the "sweetspot" temperature. I moved the eggs to an incubator-do they still stand a chance to hatch? I can’t help trying to sleuth out what might be going on, any time I hear about a hatch not going well. More than half of batch one us always still pures even though I dont sale or advertise them that way. Thank you Julie. If the eggs are not hatched within the … I always wash my hands before handling the eggs so I don’t introduce bacteria onto the egg. Anyway, please forgive the brainstorming. Bigger eggs may not start to unzip until day 29. Hi Sara, that’s a great question! On day one, the humidity was fairly high and I had to remove the water to bring it down. Log in, « Apple Bundt Cake Recipe For Your Next Gathering, How to Make Roasted Garlic at Home and Steal the Sweet Flavor Secrets of World Class Chefs ». Hello thank you for all the help you’ve given us. Use a soft (e.g. At 2-3 days before the incubating duck eggs are ready to hatch you’ll take them out of the turner and lay them in the incubator on in a separate hatcher. There’s nothing like hatch day – SO EXCITING!! Store them between 55-75℉ and out of direct light. Reasons can include the following: Not enough time has passed. Hi Stayce! Hi Diane! Some theorize that the cooling/misting cycle helps to make the shell more brittle for hatch. Non fertilized, table eggs. Pekin ducks are the most common type of duck and are found all over North America. Poor Mama Duck is still tending to the eggs and sitting on the nest - it's extremely hot over there at times, today was over 100 degrees (I'm in Florida). Hatching Chicken eggs and duck eggs.Chickens are 21 day gestation.Ducks are about 28 days gestation. Also, like my ducks, I’ve hatched dirty and clean eggs. I’ve used lots of different models, and have found this inexpensive combination one to be reliable for both temp and humidity. HB) pencil to mark the extent of air sac development on the egg shell and compare it to the egg above. So I decided to proceed with dry incubation and coincidentally you have mentioned the same thing. Opening the incubator causes the humidity level to drop drastically which can hamper the hatching duck eggs and inadvertently turning the eggs can cause them not the hatch. Even from the outside, I consistently notice the heartbeat within a duck egg becoming visible at least 12 hours later into incubation than a chicken’s…and that’s just to my untrained eye. Hope someone else tries it. So thank YOU for speaking encouragement to my heart, when you didn’t even know I needed it! Joane, you’re so kind! When we first got our Welsh Harlequin ducks, I was just looking for a nice little backyard flock. Hi Julie! I DO have a stash of notes from my research about this very subject, but it’ll take me a little time to pull together. Your timing is amazing. Watch; S p F 5 o n W R s o r e d M P H 6 P S F. 3 Hatching Eggs Duck Pekin / Rouen / Mallard Duck Mix Hatching Eggs Fertile. I figured that would leave a healthy margin for error, since I was hatching out ducks for the first time, and didn’t feel terribly confident. If the duck wasn't on the eggs over night it isn't likely they are still viable. YES – it’s definitely different timing. I think that it really does help to mimic nature a bit – my mother ducks always get off the nest for a good 15-20 minutes each day to eat, drink, stretch, and take a swim. What if I washed the eggs first? Happy hatching!! Your email address will not be published. I had 18 duck eggs that were alive as of last week and due to hatch today, but only 1 has hatched so far! I incubated them using two different circulated-air incubators (this one by Hovabator, and this one by Brinsea), as well as an old plywood still-air incubator that I’d build with my dad as a kid. Mallard-derived ducks often start hatching after 28 days. 41 Comments. Today is day two of incubation. Hi Laura, you bet! I’m cheering you on! Once the eggs begin hatching, it is advisable to separate the mother from the father duck as drakes will sometimes attack and kill the hatchlings. There are always a couple infertile and a couple that die during incubation, but if I candle a few days before the hatch 90% are alive. By the next morning, they were all sold. Running dry incubation, my incubator RH is 50%. sit on fertile eggs until they hatch), so hatching eggs in an incubator is generally your best bet. Once a fertilized duck egg begins incubation (via momma duck or an incubator), it takes about *28 days to hatch. We sell these packages with a pamphlet on how to incubate and hatch those eggs. Muscovies take 35 days. I’ve hatched chicks under mama hens for years, but can’t master the incubator with either chicks or ducks! As long as none of them are bantam ducks, they should all hatch within a fairly close time frame, and you should be just fine. Hi there! I am using a HHD 48 egg incubator at the moment until I can build my own. But during incubation, opening it for turning and topping up the water reservoirs isn’t a problem at all. Hope this helps! In that case, I feel the best you can do is to incubate them as though they’re all the same, following the protocol in this post for non-muscovy eggs. Unfollow duck hatching eggs to stop getting updates on your eBay Feed. As far as incubating those breeds together, you should be fine! One hatched two days early and is really healthy, eats and drinks. I’ve seen some absolutely gorgeous mixes. One benefit of this is that I can fit more eggs into the incubator this way – easily up to 60 in my Hovabator. sit on fertile eggs until they hatch), using an incubator is generally your best bet. Hi Jill! If you want to send me any candling pictures or need help during the hatch, please feel free to email me. Don’t freak out if you’re on day 29 and nothing has hatched. My very best wishes on your hatching endeavors, and thank you again for the kind words! I had a great first attempt, and ended up with 32 ducklings from that hatch. Our partner hatcheries carry various types of ducks that hatch quality eggs, ranging from assorted duck eggs and Black Runner Duck Eggs to Buff Duck Eggs, Flying Mallard Duck Eggs, and many other options. This seems to be a common problem that people have, even though they have a modern incubator, often with automatic temperature and humidity control. In a styrofoam incubator they’re usually red, and located on the top. I’m delighted that you’ve found this helpful! In Eastern bluebird nests, about 17% of eggs do not hatch. Incubating duck eggs in an incubator is a bit more complicated than hatching chicken eggs the same way. They also hatched over a shorter period of time, rather than many hours apart. Moscovy ducks are on the longer end, hatching after 35 days. That was about it. Also, what kind of incubator are you using, and are there any air plugs in? Brand New. You will want a reliable thermometer as well a hygrometer in there. $14.99. I find that when incubating duck eggs, I can’t fit on in the spot closest to the auto-turner’s motor without preventing full movement of the turning racks, so I leave that spot empty. Like you said, I seperate a good month before egg hatching time to insure purity. The only other thing that comes to mind with the very late losses is making sure that they’re getting turned at least three times daily – if you’re not using an autoturner. However, a few days more or less is relatively common. I’ve been using an automatic turner, but sometimes wonder how effective it is. I also tried to email you at the address I’m one of the comments here but i keep getting an undeliverable message. I will try all that. Let me see what I can pull together for you!! Any advice you can share on this would be greatly appreciated. YES! My question here is whether I would still need to mist the eggs from day 8? Yours was the first one to pop up, and in two years of blogging and hundreds of comments, it’s the first to ask about a YouTube channel. Hope this helps a bit! Fingers crossed for you, and congrats on those three healthy babies! It rocks the eggs more than actually turning them. Basic procedures and conditions for hatching duck eggs are as follows. You bet! Anna, I am looking for the difference of the stages of development between ducks and chickens. Question for you-my Rouen duck hatched 3 babies, and quit sitting on her last 3 eggs. Great fun and a great education for school kids. I am having difficulty bringing my incubator humidity below 64%. Yes, I would definitely still mist/cool the eggs from day 8. This is what I would do if I had eggs that I thought were mostly non-muscovy, but some might be. No problem at all. Once you remove the egg turner is it fine to just lay the eggs on their side? The more I hatched, the better I got at it. A lot of times I keep a spray bottle of rubbing alcohol handy and just spray my hands before handling the eggs especially before turning the eggs by hand. What if I didn’t? But, although it is fairly commonplace on homesteads, attempting to hatch both chicken … Hatching duck eggs is just as easy as as hatching out baby chicks! For some reason they can’t get out of their shells or die within the last 3 days. I hope it helps! Following are the conditions recommended for incubation and hatching: I’ve been meaning to start a YouTube channel, and was actually just now planning out which videos I should shoot first. (BNA). If you haven’t already started misting, I would go ahead and do that – they do benefit from it, and I’m going to bet now’s not too soon. We do not sell goose hatching eggs as they are difficult to ship and do not hatch as well as duck eggs. Lower the humidity to 45-50% (they’ve just been through about 3 days of high humidity with hatch #1, and must lose the right volume for a strong hatch). If the air sack in your duck eggs is too small, your incubator humidity is too high. Honestly, sometimes those backyard mixes are just the sweetest and most beautiful ducks! New Listing 3 Hatching Eggs Duck Possible Pekin Rouen GOLDEN CASCADE Mix Fertile Muskovy. Eggs that ‘touch’ during incubation synchronize and will tend to hatch at the same time (like popcorn). If chicken eggs cool off they die, I imagine ducks are the same. I don’t actually take the eggs out. I love my Hovabator, and open it to manually turn the eggs 3x daily, every time I hatch duck eggs with it! Happy hatching! I find that my own water requirements for getting the desired humidity are drastically different from February to June, since my home is extremely dry in February, and humid by summertime. Pekins and most common breeds of duck hatch at 28 days.