The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: polaris on May 10, 2014, 10:53:58 am
-
Have seen quite a few threads on here that question humidity for duck eggs so I thought I'd share how we did it.....
Old plastic arts and crafts case with a steel cooling tray inside to lay eggs on, electric blanket folded underneath and over the case, set at lowest temperature. We used a thermometer over the course of a week, adding a blanket and taking away a blanket till we got it sitting reliably at the right temperature all day.
Put 36 eggs on the tray and closed.
Left as they were for three days.
Every day we would open the box and let the eggs cool by 2 degrees for 15 minutes, turning the eggs as normal, but once a day we used a spray bottle to lightly mist the eggs with water from the river, based on the idea that mum always went for a swim and a feed once a day and then returned to the eggs a little colder and damper.
For five years in a row we consistently hatched over 80% using this method.
We only started doing it this way as we had no idea where to start and my papa is one of those geniuses who works things out based on the evidence he's given... And he has no clue how to use the internet....
Just incase any of that can help anyone.
This was for Khaki Campbells.
-
Blimey that sounds complex! I'm quite happy to have variable hatching rates if it means I don't have to go through that ;)
-
OH is going to make me an incubator, based on so,unhinged we have seen on uTube. He is going to use a light bulb for heat but if it isn't the right temperature then the electric blanket sounds like a good idea. I have an old one that we aren't using.