![]() ![]() Since you mention that the hatch is usually staggered over 3 days, the one other thing I might do is just triple check your thermometer to make sure it's spot on.sometimes the thermometer that comes with an incubator can be a bit off, and to me a staggered hatch like that suggests a slight temperature issue. And if you're not sure you've got all your supplies ready for when they hatch, my friend Lisa has a great list that will help you prepare for brooding out ducklings.Īw, Kate! That's so heartbreaking to lose them at the end like that! You know, my friend Ruth was just telling me the other day that her hatch rate used to be low, but as soon as she started the misting and cooling it went way up.Wondering how you can help your sweet fluff balls grow up to be super-friendly and cuddly ducks? Let me tell you all my tricks (hint: start talking to them now!).Need tips on how to guarantee you're only hatching purebred ducklings, if you keep multiple duck breeds? I tell you all about how to do that here.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! This gives me consistently high hatch rates, with vigorous, fluffy ducklings. And I'd found a delightful little side-enterprise that helped us bring in some extra income - one more step toward being self-sufficient here on the homestead.īelow, I've created a little cheat sheet, detailing the steps I follow for successfully hatching duck eggs. By the end of that summer, I'd solidified my duckling hatching method. They also hatched over a shorter period of time, rather than many hours apart. I also found that my ducklings all hatched clean and fluffy (no patches of sticky down, like with my first batch). The more I hatched, the better my hatch rates got. What if tried a slightly lower humidity? What if I misted twice a day? What if I didn't mist at all? What if I washed the eggs first? What if I didn't? The more I hatched, the better I got at it. 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. By the time summer was over, I'd hatched out 227 ducklings in my kitchen. Would I hatch more? Oh, indeed, I hatched more. And I had a list of people who wanted to buy more, if I would be willing to hatch them. I didn't need that many, so I posted them in my Facebook farming group. I had a great first attempt, and ended up with 32 ducklings from that hatch. Turns out, duck eggs really aren't that hard to hatch successfully.
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