r-com 20

[rita]

hi i have a r-com 20 with 6 duck eggs in, it's now day 21 and all is well. 17

can anyone tell me what the humidity should be for the last 3 days and what temp i should be running the inc.
i am getting a little nervous that i might mess up at the last bit.
also i can anyone tell me what the 1hour 2hour 3hour turning for the incubator is for, i have had it set for 1hour turn.
sorry for all the questions, but this is the first time i have used this incubator.
any advice would be appreciated.

 

[bex46]

hi, bit late in my reply as ive seen you did hatch your little ducklings, i have the rcom 20 but have only hatched bantams in it, so what temp and humidity did you end up setting it at?

 

[chrismahon]

Well Rita and Bex. I think this post has been hiding in the wiring somewhere because I search every day for unread posts and it hasn't come up. Someone would certainly have replied before now if it was visible.

Perhaps System Admin needs to look into this because I've noticed a few posts coming up late recently on my 'unread posts' search.

Hope the hatch was OK Rita.

 

[Melbourne12]

This is a timely post for me. We've also got an R-com 20, and did a very successful chicken hatch in Feb/Mar. Then we moved on to 10 duck eggs on behalf of a friend at our allotments.

We used the R-com's built in program for duck eggs, which is: First 25 days 37.5C 45% humidity, 120 degree turn every hour. Then for hatching, 3 days at 37.0C and 60% humidity, no turn.

All looked fine at first, with 10/10 viable at 8 days when we first candled them. They seemsed to develop well right up until hatching. We then got 3 that hatched early on day 28, then a couple pipped but didn't hatch, and the remaining five didn't even pip, although the ducklings seemed to be well developed. We gave it another 36 hours, then switched the machine off.

I don't really understand what went wrong, except perhaps that the R-com program is at too low a humidity level. Looking at advice elsewhere on the internet, I see that some people recommend as high as 75% humidity during hatching.

The three ducklings that hatched were perfectly formed and healthy, and are now transferred from our brooder to their new owner.

 

[charliefox]

hi i had 1 out of 6 hatch (call duck) ducks need a lower temp than chickens and a higher humidity 65/75 % and should take 28 days to hatch but my sole suvivor hatched on day 21 and i would sugest more reserch befor you try again further more r-20 needs an external air temp of at least 20 degrees C if its to maintain a constant air and humidity temp inside .and look out for excess fluid in bottom of unit otherwise you will never maintain constant humidity .hope this helps uncle fox