Temp and humidity

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Hanlills777

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Hello, I'm just about to hatch duck eggs in my classroom and was just wondering on what temperature and humidity should be ideal for the incubator? Do you have to check it every day or is it ok to leave for a couple of days? Thanks in advance, Hannah :)
 
Hello Hannah,

Before starting incubation, I would suggest you read up a little on hatching - they can be tricky and nobody wants fully formed ducklings that die in the shell before hatching: Setting up your Incubator

Duck eggs need 37.5 degrees C and a degree lower during the last 3 days of incubation. The humidity is often debated - I use 45%, raising to as much as I can get in the last 3 days to help with the hatch.

You need to keep the temperature and humidy correct and it is best to practice on an incubator without eggs for a few days first. This means regular monitoring but also regular adjustment if you don't have a fully automatic incubator. Water needs adding to the reservoir of an incubator daily in most cases.
 
I have bought a r-20 king suro and it has a little box that I think automatically does humidity as there are tubes going into it and then into the incubator and nowhere to place water inside. It all seems very automatic. I'm planning on turning the incubator on tomorrow or friday to run it for a bit as I read that was a good idea. The eggs are not going in until next weds. Hannah
 
OK Hannah,

The Suro is fully automatic - select duck and just ensure the water reservoir is full - a pint glass or similar can be used for this as it just has a hose you pop into your own reservoir.

Setting up the pump can be a bit of a fiddle but once the water is in the hose, it drips very slowly as required to keep the humidity at the right level.

Setting up everything 2-3 days before and making sure it's all working an the temperature is stable is important.

When the ducklings start to hatch, do not remove the lid - the Suro has a good viewing lid so all can see. Taking the lid off will cause the humidty to be lost. Very important during the hatch. This is especially true as you're in a hot / dry classroom.

Good luck :-)
 
I found that setting up the pump is speeded considerably by sucking water into the tube before fitting it to the pump, so right at the beginning of assembly. Otherwise it takes ages, even with the pump at full speed, to draw water into it. Still takes an age to get to the incubator.

The cradle rotation is switched off three days before hatching, the temperature is reduced and the humidity raised. The chick then aligns itself before breaking out. Tim will have all the figures if you haven't. Sorry our stuff is packed ready for moving house.
 
Thank you both so much for all of your advice :) I put the tubes in today and the little tube that you stretch across the pump seems very very tight and I'm wondering how the water is going to get through, it was already cut to size so I haven't changed it. Chris, did you just make the tube wet by sucking water through it? I.e, you didn't try keeping water in the tube?
 
No, suck the water right up to the pump and connect it, leaving the other end in the water container to trap the water in the tube. The tube in the pump is tight deliberately. It works lsame as a blood or medicine pump. The rotating barrel with the pins in it compresses the tube and squeezes the water along it, which is why it has to be tight or it kinks.
 
I have been reading with interest the humidity discussion, in particular with the R-com Suro. I have an R-come and am trying to hatch some chicken eggs. I recently purchased the incubator, all excited I put in 9 of my own pure breed eggs, and basically I was very disappointed-none survived. :( I got 3 to the pipping stage, two struggled, even with a little bit of help, 1 hatched but being a lone chick didn't stand much chance. On checking my eggs 8 out of 9 were fertile and all looked fully developed ready to hatch, but for some reason didn't hatch or struggled, even more disappointing.
I was wondering if I had maybe run the humidity too low? I set if at 43% until day 18 and then increased it by 1%/day until day 21 when I went to 60%. The sponge inside also always looks dry, should it be damp? Some people it would appear run dry right the way through but I am not sure if that is what I did and it didnt work?
What settings do other people use that work?? I could really do with some advice!

I put in some more eggs on friday night setting the humidity at 45%, and would appreciate any help for the critical last few days!

Thank you for your help!
 
Trying another incubator or different eggs would be a good starting point.

One thing you could try is switching the birds over to breeders pellets for a few weeks before trying to hatch the eggs. Breeders pellets provide all the trace elements that are needed for hatching - I've spent hours trying to figure out what went wrong with my incubators, switched to breeders pellets and the problem went away... switched back and gradually had more and more Dead in Shell chicks.

If they are truely free range and get a good diet it might not be worth it but certainly worth keeping in mind that diet can cause DIS chicks.

The only other thing to look at outside of the incubator set up is the breeding - if they are very closely bred for a number of generations, this can also cause hatchability problems.
 
Thank you, thats sounds great advice and is very interesting what can cause an affect on the chicks before they have even hatched. I might see if I can get some breeders pellets and add some to their diet before retrying any more eggs. I will carry on with the eggs I have in the incubator-2 weeks left and increase the humididity more in the last couple of days, and meanwhile try the breeders pellets. Thank you very much!
 
Fluffy5 said:
Thank you, thats sounds great advice and is very interesting what can cause an affect on the chicks before they have even hatched. I might see if I can get some breeders pellets and add some to their diet before retrying any more eggs. !
Click to expand...

There's a good article in this months's (April edition) of Practical Poultry magazine on this very subject - says just what Tim advises, with some extra detail.
 
Thanks for the info will definitely look at he magazine for a few more hints-thank you!
 
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