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When you are ready to set your eggs, turn your incubator on and let it get up to temperature while you let the eggs sit for several hours at room temperature to allow them to warm up a bit and the yolks to settle. Mark an X or number on one side of each egg with a pencil. This will serve as your guide when turning the eggs (if your incubator has an auto turner, you can skip this step). Place the eggs in the incubator with the pointy end angled down.

Set your incubator in a quiet location out of direct sunlight where it won’t be bothered by children or pets. I like to put a piece of rubber shelf liner on the floor of the incubator. This helps the eggs stay in place as you turn them and also gives the newly hatched ducklings a textured surface to grip onto so they don’t slip.

Managing temperature and humidity. Duck eggs should be incubated at a temperature between 99.3° and 99.6°F (but again, check the setting for your particular model) for 28 days. The humidity level in the incubator is extremely important as well and needs to be monitored. Depending on the type of incubator you are using, the humidity can be controlled by filling small water reservoirs, or wetting a clean kitchen sponge and setting it inside the incubator. Humidity should be checked using a hygrometer, available from your feed store or online, if your incubator doesn’t come equipped with one, and kept constant according to your incubator instruction manual.

Marking the eggs with a pencil serves as a guide for turning them.

Moisture is lost through the pores in the eggshell, and air is drawn in. The air sac in the egg gets larger as an egg ages, whether the egg is being incubated or not. It’s crucial the air sac be the correct size in a developing egg to allow the embryo room to grow and air to breathe before it hatches. If the humidity is too high in the incubator, the air sac will be too small and the duckling can be too large and have trouble breathing and breaking out of the shell. Conversely, low humidity will result in a larger air space, a smaller, weaker duckling and hatching problems.

Weighing. Weighing each egg throughout the incubation process is the most accurate way to achieve the proper humidity levels for a successful hatch. Optimally, you want each egg to lose 13% of its weight from hatch to day 25 of the incubation period. More detailed explanations of relative humidity and egg weight loss is beyond the scope of this book, but the specifics can be found both on the Brinsea website at www.brinsea.com and Metzer Farms at www.metzerfarms.com.

Turning. If you are manually turning your eggs, you want to turn them a minimum of five times a day (even more is better, especially the first week) and always an odd number of times – turning 180 degrees side to side each time – so the egg spends every other night on the opposite side. This prevents the developing embryo from sticking to the shell and membrane. Embryos float and rise to the top each time the egg is turned. I set the alarm on my cell phone to remind me to turn the eggs at 6 a.m., 10 a.m., 2 p.m., 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. That schedule works for me; you can set one that works for you, or set the auto turner if your incubator has one. I prefer to turn the eggs manually. I like to think it allows me to bond with the growing embryos and feel more involved in the incubation process, but more likely it’s because I’m a bit of a control freak!

Utilize an incubator to maintain a constant temperature and humidity levels for your eggs.

Clean hands! It’s very important to wash your hands both prior to and after handling the eggs. Eggshells are extremely porous and bacteria are easily transmitted from your hands through the pores to the developing embryo. If during a candling you see a reddish ring inside the egg, that “blood ring” indicates bacteria have gotten inside the egg and it should be discarded. Contaminated eggs can explode and contaminate other eggs.

Day 5. Five days into the incubation, you should be able to see some “spider” veining when you candle the eggs. The air sac at the blunt end of each egg should have started to expand as well. Being careful not to drop the eggs, work quickly and don’t leave the light against the shell for too long because even a few minutes at temperatures above 100°F can kill the embryo. By day 5, the digestive tract, nervous and circulatory systems have formed and the eyes, ears and brain have begun to form. The heart is beating and the legs and tail have begun to develop.

Day 10. By day 10, candling will show significant expansion of the air sac in the blunt end of the egg and a developing embryo. The legs, toes and foot webbing, wings and beak will have begun to form and the bones are beginning to harden. The reproductive system is forming and feathers are beginning to grow. The egg tooth, a nub at the tip of the upper bill which helps the duckling crack the shell and hatch, is beginning to grow. Any eggs not showing any development by day 10 can usually be safely removed as they are most likely infertile or otherwise not going to hatch.

Starting on day 10, the eggs will benefit from daily misting and cooling. Once a day, remove the lid of the incubator and leave it off for 30-60 minutes. The eggs should be let to cool to about 86°F, so they feel neither warm nor cold to the touch. Then mist each egg with a spray bottle of lukewarm water and replace the incubator lid. This mimics a mother duck leaving the nest each day to find something to eat and maybe take a short swim, returning wet to her nest. The misting helps keep the humidity levels high and the membrane moist, which assists the duckling in hatching. The misting also cools the egg surface temperature slightly as the water evaporates. Studies have shown this can greatly improve hatch rates.

Day 26. Continue turning, cooling and misting the eggs as described until day 26. Day 26 is lockdown. At that point, one last candling should be done and any eggs not showing development should be discarded so only viable embryos remain. The eggs should get one last turning, cooling and misting and the incubator closed. The temperature should be decreased to 98.5°F and the humidity should be increased. The eggs should not be touched nor should the incubator be opened until the ducklings have hatched. Opening the incubator causes the humidity level to drop drastically, and moving the eggs can cause them not the hatch. At this point, the ducklings will move into “hatch position” and turning an egg will disorient the duckling, possibly preventing it from being able to successfully break the shell and hatch.

By day 28, you should see small holes (pips), in the eggs, indicating that the ducklings are starting to work their way out of the shell.

Day 28. Hopefully, if all goes well, on day 28 you will begin to see “pips” (small holes or cracks) appear in the eggshells. The eggs might start rocking and even peep back at you if you quack at them (don’t ask me how I know this – just trust me, they will!) The duckling will then begin to make its way out of the shell, “zipping” off the top of the egg and then emerging from the shell.

Once the duckling has made a sizeable hole and is breathing the air in the incubator instead of the air inside the eggshell, it will often take a break to rest up for the final push. This break can last for hours; up to 12 hours is quite common. You shouldn’t be tempted to help a duckling unless it has been more than 12 hours since the initial pip and you haven’t seen any further progress, or the duckling is nearly out but seems twisted or wrapped up in the membrane or is “shrink wrapped” in a dried membrane, in which case lightly misting the membrane with warm water can help, as can carefully breaking away pieces of the shell. If you see any bleeding, stop immediately and leave it alone for a few more hours.

After they hatch, ducklings need to stay in the incubator until they are rested, dried and fluffy.

The entire hatching process can take 48 hours or longer, so resist the urge to assist and just enjoy watching nature take its course. Leave the ducklings in the incubator until they are rested, dried, fluffy and starting to move around. They don’t need to eat or drink for the first 48 hours; they can survive on the nutrients in the egg yolk they absorb just prior to hatching. Once they have dried off, they should be moved to a heated brooder. A few sips of sugar water (3 tablespoons sugar per quart of water) before you put them in the brooder is always a good idea to give your new ducklings some added energy and a good start in life.

Hatching Eggs Under a Duck

Hatching under a duck is far less complicated if you are lucky enough to have a duck cooperate and decide to sit on eggs. The mother duck handles it all. Be sure she has a nice nest of straw in a location safe from the elements, predators and the rest of the flock, and provide her with feed and water close by. Blocking off her nest will ensure that other ducks don’t lay more eggs alongside those she is trying to hatch, and will also prevent broken eggs if another duck wants to use the nest to lay her eggs.

Herbs for the nest. It’s beneficial to add some fresh or dried herbs to the nest. Oftentimes, ducks aren’t overly broody, so some calming herbs such as chamomile, lavender, bee balm, yarrow or lemon balm will relax her and encourage her to sit. Since she’s not swimming as much as she would otherwise, you can add some insect-repelling herbs to the nest to help keep it parasite-free; these include basil, bay leaves, mint, rosemary and thyme. Lastly, a few herbs with antibacterial properties are always a good idea. Basil, yarrow and thyme do double-duty here, as does bee balm. Rose petals have antibacterial qualities, plus they smell nice and ducks love to eat them – so toss a few (untreated) rose petals into the nest as well.

The mother duck will turn the eggs, rotate those from the outer ring to the inner ring for even heating, and also most likely kick any non-developing eggs out of the nest. She will control the temperature and humidity. You don’t need to candle eggs incubating under a duck. Once the ducklings hatch, she’ll keep them warm and teach them how to eat and drink, as well as introduce them to the rest of the flock when they are ready.

Once the ducklings hatch, I move them with the mother duck into a separate cage or crate inside the duck house for a week or so and then let mother duck see how she feels about taking her babies out to explore. Just keep an eye on them initially to be sure the other flock members don’t bother them, and be aware that they are very vulnerable to all kinds of predators, including hawks, snakes, rats, cats, and all the other normal predators, so restricting them to an enclosed pen is safest.