incubating ducks and chicks together

[mollybuck]

I set more eggs last night, and I was informed that I will be getting duck eggs in a week to put in the incubator as well. I have never hatched ducks before. I dont even know where to start, but what about having them together. does the humidity need to be higher? same temps? I suppose I could incubate them in the hatcher and move the chicks into it since they should go into lockdown at the same time!


AH! I love these "problems"!

 

[sumi]

I incubated duck eggs at 45% humidity and 99*F (forced air incubator). That worked well for me. The only problem I see here is the chicken eggs would hatch nearly halfway through the duck eggs' incubation.

 

[mollybuck]

i just set a dozen last night, so If I put the duck eggs in, in a week, wont they hatch at the same time? thats about the same temp i have for my forced air, but I usually have the humidity around 30-35%.

 

[mollybuck]

omgoodness.. i am such a ninny sometimes.. i just realized i had that backwards!! the duck eggs would go in first then the chicks a week later... well at any rate... there would be about 2 weeks difference, so the hatcher should be cleaned and ready by then!

 

[sumi]

Yeah, unfortunately you got them the wrong way round. If you set duck eggs yesterday you could've set the chicken eggs a week from now, more or less... But if you have a hatcher you can transfer the chicken eggs when they are ready to lock down. Handy!

 

[mollybuck]

well. i set the chicken eggs a couple hours before I found out i was getting ducks..

 

[sumi]

Now that was bad timing lol