[lisacj]

Hi all,
I've got my first set of 18 duck eggs in my incubator at 37.5 degrees; 55% humidity (as recommended by the breeder). It's day 6 today and I candled them this morning (no patience.... ) and I think 8 of the 18 are fertile (definitely spider veins and a central dot - on a couple of them I thought I could see a darker dot within the central kidney bean shaped spot).
Sooooo - should I bin the ones that seemed 'empty' or wait a little longer? I got the eggs from a very experienced breeder who promised over 90% fertility, but this is my first try with my first incubator, so I don't want to bin the eggs too early. I'm worried they will rot and infect the rest though?
Also...what are the chances of the fertile ones hatching? I've been told to stop the turn on day 19 and increase the humidity to 60%? Is that right?
Thanks so much!! Sorry for the stupid questions!

[Nails]

Hi Lisa
i am not overly experienced when it comes to duck eggs, and have had a few problems over the last few months, but what i have learnt, from my mistakes, and advise from Kate and others on here, is to get a good book Kate recommended Storey's guide to Raising ducks by Dave Holderread, its a very good book and gives you all the info you need,
As for your eggs, if it were me i would leave for a day or 2 more, then candle again, although you should be able t see if they are fertile from day 5, if you are 100% sure there is nothing in there then bin them as if they explode they make a horrid mess.
Duck eggs incubate for 28 days, stop turning at day 18 temp should stay at 37.5 humidity should be increased to about 70% when they are hatching.
i am sure if any of this is wrong Kate will put you right.

[lisacj]

Thanks so much for such a quick reply Nails, and some good advice  will do as you say and wait for The Oracle (kate)'s advice 

[Kate and her Ducks]

Hi and welcome to the joy of hatching ducks (even if it can be nerve wracking at times!).

On your first go I would probably give it a couple more days at least before discarding any eggs. Although I have heard that they can explode, I've never had it happen to me and if they are just infertile they won't even if you left them in the whole time. The problem is if they get infected which is hard to tell and why you take them out.

Duck eggs take 28 days to hatch and as with hen eggs you want to stop turning for the last 3 days so with ducks that is on day 25 not 18 which is hens. At this point reduce the temp to 37 C and increase the humidty to 65-70%.

If your breeder garentees fertility of 90% and in a couple of days things look the same you should contact him early. Were they posted as that can make a huge difference?

[lisacj]

Fab! Thanks Kate, and promise I'll post some photos of any successes  The eggs weren't posted - I collected them, but they had a 1.5 h ride in the car first and it's thefirst run of my incubator,so I'm prepared to take the blame on this one. Hopefully the next run will be with my own duck eggs!  What do you do with your ducklings? Do you do checks on buyers? IS there a 'good' internet site to sell them from that has 'good' buyers? I don't want my darlings going to just anyone! 

[Kate and her Ducks]

All my ducklings have gone to friends, mainly on here :happy:

I don't sell mine as they would have little commercial value as they are random hybrids from my mish mash of ducks. They are highly desirable though as they are all the offspring of the mighty Patrick, my wonderful and valiant Cayuga drake! 

Selling them can be a challenge and depends on what you have. They would need to be a pure breed and obviously some breeds are more desirable than others. Be prepared to struggle to rehome the males for FREE if you are not planning on them for the pot.

There is a classified page here which you can use or the swap shop which is FTGH or swap (obviously ).

As to finding good buyers, that is difficult. If you are doing this as a commercial process you really probably don't have the luxury of picking and choosing as it is a much smaller market than for hens and you are unlikely to know all your customers. I suppose as guidelines I would never give or sell a single duck to someone who didn't already have ducks and would not sell young ducklings at Easter as most of them would be gimmicks for families who rapidly bore of them.

[lisacj]

Good advice - thanks Kate. I'm hoping to keep them a s pure breeds (I think their blood lines are quite rare) so maybe the best place to advertise them is on a forum like this. It's not a commercial venture at all - just a hobby, but if I could cover my costs I'd be happy