Incubating duck eggs is as straightforward as incubating chicken or quail eggs, but there are some differences you need to know about.
Incubating duck eggs from your own flock help you establish sustainability. No matter how small or large your flock is, being able to hatch ducklings from your own ducks ensures that you’ll have a steady source of eggs and meat well into the future.
Incubating duck eggs from your own flock also helps you:
- Preserve the bio-security of your property and flock.
- Continually improve upon your flock’s quality.
- Pass on the immunity of your flock to the next generation.
- Ensure that your new ducklings come from parents raised with your standards (organically, with no chemical medications, vaccination-free).
- Improve on the temperament of your flock by only incubating duck eggs from your favorite birds.
- Increase your hatch rate by incubating fresh duck eggs.
Length of Incubation by Breed
- Mallards 26.5-27 days
- Pekins 28 days
- Runners 28.5 days
- Muscovey 35 days (Not technically ducks but we can’t leave them out!)
- All others 28 days
Collecting Duck Eggs for Incubating
You want to collect the cleanest eggs for incubating because you won’t be washing them before they go into the incubator. Washing eggs removes the bloom. Also, make sure the eggs are note cracked.
Incubate duck eggs that are a normal size. Eggs that are extra large are generally double-yolk and will not hatch. Smaller eggs are laid by young hens. You want your hens to have been laying for a few weeks before you collect their eggs for incubating.
Storing Eggs Before You Start Incubating
If eggs are stored for a while before they are set them in the incubator, they should be stored in a place with a mild temperature and good humidity level. That will minimize deterioration of the egg. Make sure you store eggs at about 55°F (13°C) and 75% of relative humidity.
Place them with their small end facing down and store them for as few days as possible. For best results, set eggs within 1-3 days from the time they were laid. Expect an average loss of about 3% hatchability for eggs stored for 7 days before setting and about 10% loss for those stored for 14 days prior to setting.
Purchasing an Incubator
Since duck eggs are larger than chicken eggs, make sure you buy and incubator with setting trays that are designed to accommodate their larger size.
There are so many incubators on the market that it’s hard to know what to buy. Your best bet is to search on Amazon for the size incubator you need, in your price range, and read the reviews.
The rule of thumb is that you want to read the 3-star reviews. Sometimes the five-star reviews are paid for so read those with that in mind. The 1-2-star reviews are usually disgruntled customers who probably didn’t read the directions that came with their incubator or just got unlucky with a damaged purchase that in the end was likely replaced for them or refunded. The 3-star reviews will give you the clearest picture of the quality and dependability of the incubator.
Setting Your Incubator
Turn on your incubator 2-3 days before you set your eggs to get the temperature and humidity right beforehand.
- Set the temperature to 99.5°F (37.5°C).
- Set the relative humidity to 55% (84.5°F on wet bulb thermometer).
- Set ventilation to the recommendation of the manufacturer.
- Set automatic turner to 4-7 times per day. You can also turn by hand if you don’t have an automatic turner.
Note: Your incubator must maintain 40-50% humidity for the first 18 days. For the final days of incubation 65-75% humidity is needed.
Location, Location, Location
Your incubator should be placed where there are very little temperature and humidity variations throughout the day. Next to a sunny window or near a frequently used exterior door is not ideal. A basement or other dark, windowless room is the best place.
Setting Your Duck Eggs
Set your clean, carefully examined and stored eggs in the incubator. Remember not to set eggs that are dirty, cracked, double yolked, misshapen, oversized or undersized.
Always set eggs in the turner with the small end down because the air pocket for the duckling is at the top of the large end. If you have an incubator that has no trays you can of course lay the duck eggs on their sides. Just make sure they don’t touch each other. This ensures that they are each evenly warmed.
On day one of setting, check frequently to make sure the incubator is working properly. You’ll also need to check the incubator twice a day or so to make sure it’s in proper working order.
Candling Your Incubating Duck Eggs
At about seven days after setting, candle your incubating duck eggs. Turn all the lights off in the room and hold a small flashlight (I like to use the light on my iPhone) up to one end of the egg. The egg will become illuminated and you’ll be able to see the insides.
Remove Bad Eggs
- infertile (clear)
- have dead germ (cloudy)
Transfer for Hatching
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. The eggs don’t need to be turned anymore so this is the last time you’ll touch them before the ducklings hatch. At the time of transfer, the temperature of the hatcher/incubator should be set at 99°F (37.2°C) and the humidity set at 65%.
On the day the ducklings hatch the eggs begin to pip. At this point you need to increase the humidity to 80% and increase ventilation openings by about 50%.
By the last day of the hatch the temperature should have been gradually lowered to 97°F (36.1°C) and the humidity should have gradually been lowered to 70%. Vents should be opened to their maximum setting by this point. Just remember, the more ducklings there are the more ventilation they need for fresh air. So make sure they have maximum ventilation without changing the internal temperature of the incubator.
Read About Proper Water Loss During Incubation
Removing the Newly Hatched Ducklings
Remove the ducklings from the hatcher/incubator when at least 90% of them are dry. It’s best to let them all hatch out before removing them. I find that if I leave the hatched ducklings in the incubator it encourages the unhatched ducklings to pip and hatch out.
Note: I find this is especially true with quail. If they don’t hear others chirping and clashing around in the incubator they lose their desire to hatch and the hatch rate is drastically lower.
Place the ducklings in their warm brooder with water, food and source of heat.
Best of luck incubating duck eggs! If you have tips and tricks for incubating duck eggs that have worked well for you, please share them in the comments below!