Brooding - Incubating Duck Eggs ?

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Hi everyone

I have decided to incubate my mandarin duck eggs in my R-com incubator. I understand that you brood them like chickens. With a heatlamp food/water. But when would they need water to swim in ? At what age ? As this is the first time i have tried hatching ducks myself. Am more used to poultry. Any advice on brooding duckings would be great ? As so far i have not found much info in the web :?

Thanks everyone
John
 
Hi John,

Yes, you are right, they need a heat lamp - but they do cope well with less heat as they grow as they develop body fat which keeps them warmer than chicks. This time of year, my 5 week old ducklings have a 100 Watt heat lamp in an outdoor house at night and they don't seem to be cold at night. They are just feathering up.

I give only drinking water / enough to wet their eyes most of the time up to about 2 or 3 weeks old, then I start to give them water to bath in = I use a paint roller tray so they can get in / out easily.

They make loads of mess so I give this to them for 30 minutes or so every few days. They should always be able to wet / clean their eyes every day because they don't have tear ducts like chickens do and need water to clean their eyes.

Incubated ducklings are not waterproof - contrary to popular belief! Waterproofing comes from oil which is in the mother ducks preen gland. If they get wet, they get cold - make sure they can get back under the heat lamp after a bath to dry out.

Other than this, don't forget to get waterfowl or poultry crumbs for them without ACS. They will overdose on ACS as they eat more than chicks do.

I can't think of anything else at the moment...

Tim
 
Hi Tim

Thanks so much for the help tim. I will follow what you suggest as i have never hatched duckings before only chickens or quails. So this is my first go. I have just set my duck eggs inside my incubator do they have the same humidity setting as chickens ? I looked on my incubator instruction manual ( R-Com 20 ) And they don't say much in there about humidity for duck eggs ? I normally run my chicken eggs at 42% humidity then up to 70% for the last 3 days & i seem to get very good result at that settings. I have tried looking around the web but there don't seem to be that much info on incubation humidity settings of duck eggs lol.

I will setup a brooder ready with a heat lamp. And will find a drinker for them to use. I like the idea of a paint roller tray that's sounds a really great idea. I have heard they can make lot's of mess so i guess i will have a steep learning curve on that one lol !! I didn't realize that incubated duckings cannot swim as i have only seem young ducklings with there mother. So thanks for that tim. Yep i will try & buy proper Duck crumbs from my local supplier.

Thanks so much for your help Tim i will post back how i get on.

Kind Regards John
 
Hi John,

OK good luck and yes, humidity requirements are the same although as with many of these things, I've heard of people doing all sorts of different things from not adding water to the incy to spraying eggs with a mister. Mine is left at 45% until the last humid period and it works reasonably well, I've had around 85% hatches this year so far. If I'm incubating something rare, I will use the weight loss method to lose around 13% weight by day 21 and this gives better results.

Tim
 
Thanks again tim i decided to set the humidity to 45% instead of my normal 42% in the end that i set my chickens eggs at so i will monitor thee duck eggs weight like you said and will keep an eye on the air cell to see how it grows in size. I will post back & update how i get on. I have a temp brooder setup with a heat lamp all ready to go for when they hatch out "Fingers Crossed" Thanks again tim for all your help i really appreciate it mate.

Regards John
 
Well it's now hatching time on my first batch of duck eggs. They was due to hatch on friday night but so far i only have noticed one that has just pipped tonight. Think there are slightly a little late ? This first batch was set on the 8th April ? I now have the humidity set to 70% i was trying to keep an eye on there weight & check the growth of there air cell. But my mum pasted away two weeks ago so i have not had chance to check the eggs due to having so much to do setting up my mums funereal etc. I will update the next few days on how the first lot of eggs go. I have a second batch due to hatch next week incase i don't do that well this time round. As these are my first attempt at incubating duck eggs.

John
 
Well so far still no ducklings this morning :( Will have to see what happens today.

John

Update: Well it seems the air cells did not grow enough inside the eggs i think ? And i found only 1 managed to pip but it did not proceed to hatch the rest are dead in shell :cry: So i decided to try & break it out of it's shell in a chance of just saving the last small little duckling. I managed to break it out but it is still attached to the yolk sack & very weak ? I have now left it inside the incubator it is out of the shell but still attached to the yolk sack inside the remaining shell. I have given it a little sugar water to try & help give it some strength but time will tell i guess. I have 3 more eggs in another batch that are due to hatch next week so i have now reduced the humidity down a bit in an attempt to adjust & increase the air cell slightly larger.

John
 
I have noticed on the new chick that the yolk sack was not absorbed properly. And there is a long growth that was connected to the yolk sack (see photo) Will the chick heal up normally or should i dispatch it ?

1.jpg
 
They usually don't last John - if he's not up and moving around within 4 or 5 hours of hatching, it would probably be kinder to dispatch him. An unhealed navel is risky for getting infection too.

Have a look at the Incubation Troubleshooting Guide - this gives a few ideas of what could have gone wrong (about half way down there is: Chicks fully formed but dead in shell, no pipping. On opening eggs, sometimes unabsorbed yolk can be seen).

Feeling really lousy today with flu and have been awake coughing most of the night so feels like I should be dispatched... I'm going back to bed for a bit...
 
Hi Tim yep i decided to dispatch him. Just thought i would see what others thought of him first. I have never had a chick with that problem before so it was new to me. I will keep my fingers crossed that my remaining 3 eggs do alot better next week !!

Sorry your not feeling great today Tim !! There is alot of flu about with the cold mornings & warmer afternoons were having at the moment today it was 3 deg this morning then in my bird room it got up to 24 deg when the sun came out & the air ventilation started up due to increase in temperature lol. Hope you feel better soon mate !! Thanks again for all your help Tim.

John
 
Sorry to hear about that John but it sounds like it was for the best. Duck eggs are more difficult to hatch and certain Goose eggs even harder I'm told..

Yep, I'm on the mend again... It was a struggle keeping up with the birds though feeling wrotten. I don't go ill very often thankfully but it's a strain on the family if I do with all the birds to take care of at this time of year.

Good luck with the others...
 
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