do you spray or not

[rita]

hi i am about to put in 6 Appleyard duck eggs in the incubator, the question is do you spray the eggs with tepid water or not.
would like some advice from anyone who has tried it and did it help, or shall i not bother with spraying the duck eggs.
thank you.

 

[foxy]

I have incubated a fair few ducks eggs, and have never sprayed with tepid water. As long as the humidity is correct, you shouldn't need too in my opinion

 

[chrismahon]

Why would you do that Rita? Ours get dunked in tepid sanitiser solution and then straight into the incubator. They dry off quickly in there.

 

[rita]

i was reading on one of the websites and he said they spray their duck eggs from day 3 to 25 everyday he said the mother duck would go for a swim and then sit back on the eggs with wet feathers and he said it keeps the membrane from sticking.
i didn't last time i hatched some eggs but i just wanted to know if anyone else does this to their duck eggs and was it easier for the baby ducks to get out of their shell as i did help mine.

 

[Marigold]

I can see the logic of this, but on the other hand, the eggs are already in a humidity-controlled incubator so in no danger of drying out in the way that eggs laid in a nest might be if the duck didn't return with wet feathers. If you did spray every day, you'd have to open the incubator many times, and each time you would lose heat and humidity stability.
If you did spray, whether at the start of incubation or later on, it would be best to have the water considerably warmer than the incubation temperature, because if it's colder than the eggshell you risk bacteria being drawn in through the pores of the egg. This is another reason why maybe it's best to disturb incubating eggs as little as possible unless for very good reason.

 

[rita]

thank you all for your advice i think i will leave well alone. i do open up the incubator to add warm water to the troughs every other day to keep the humidity up at 55%.
i also keep the temp at 37.5.
is that the correct temp i hatched 3 last time out of 4 eggs.