To be sincere, how to hatch a duck egg without an incubator is no desirable task. A common misconception is that temperature is everything in hatching eggs, but that’s not the case. Monitoring incubation RH is also vital.
Nevertheless, people are experimenting with new ways of hatching duck eggs, and they seem to be working out. In this article, we discuss in detail how you can hatch duck eggs successfully without an incubator.
Techniques Used to Hatch Duck Eggs Without an Incubator
Below are two common methods that you can use to hatch a duck egg without an incubator:
1. The Lamp Technique
The lamp technique involves placing the duck eggs under the lamp. But you need to be cautious when placing the eggs. Ensure they don’t lie directly beneath the lamp. Additionally, keep rotating the sides of the eggs every four to five hours to help prevent the lamplight from reaching only a single side.
You should also have water nearby at all times. Spray it on the duck eggs at least twice a day. Remember, the eggs need that extra humidity, and just like a mother duck usually does – return to her nest wet – by spraying water, you mimic what she does.
2. Natural Incubation
Natural incubation involves simply placing the duck eggs you intend to hatch under a broody duck. The best egg setters, in this case, are considered to be Muscovy ducks. These ducks can hatch up to 12 to 16 eggs.
However, you must ensure the position of the nest box is suitable for effective and efficient hatching. The shelter should be dry, clean, and bedded with suitable litter.
In addition, you should provide the broody duck with plenty of water and feed. And don’t forget to keep enough duckling starters too for the ducklings once they hatch.
Steps to Successful Natural Incubation When You Let Your Ducks Hatch Eggs
If you decide to go the natural incubation way, as most people without incubators do, you need to do everything correctly to increase your chances of success. Below are six steps to help boost the hatching:
1. Duck Breed
Do your duck breeds possess mothering instincts? This is one vital consideration to make because different duck breeds have different maternal instincts.
If you’ve been hatching your ducks in incubators for generations, it’s highly possible that, to some extent, your domesticated duck breeds have lost their egg hatching/ mothering instincts. That continuous incubator hatching(epigenetic) may have led to the ducks losing their egg-hatching capabilities.
Well, if you’re looking for a duck breed to make the best mother for your ducklings, below is a classification of the different breeds based on their maternal instincts.
- Excellent: Muscovy (a duck species often used for hatching eggs. It’s different from the common duck breeds.)
- Very good: Silver Appleyard and Mallard
- Good: Rouen, Khaki Campbell, and Welsh Harlequin
- Fair: Black Swedish, White Layer, Blue Swedish, Cayuga Buff, and Golden 300 Hybrid Layer
- Poor: Jumbo Pekin, Grimaud Hybrid Pekin, and Pekin
There’s no must-stick-to rule or procedure here. However, if your duck breed falls below the good level, it’s not recommendable to use her to hatch eggs. On the other hand, if the duck is in the excellent or very good category, you can expect excellent results.
The highest number of eggs you can expect the Muscovy or Wild Mallard to hatch at once is 16.
2. Only Do the Hatching in the Warm Months
The best time for ducks to hatch eggs is from spring to summer, when temperatures are favorable. Don’t assume that because your domesticated duck lays many eggs over prolonged periods than the wild duck, it can raise ducklings in winter or fall. Although the duck may still be laying the eggs, that’s not the ideal time for her to hatch.
In fact, even the likes of Muscovy, with their excellent maternal instincts, may not succeed in hatching eggs and keeping her ducklings alive when the temperatures are extremely low.
Therefore, it’s advisable to allow your ducks to raise ducklings only at the same season as the wild duck hatching season—from spring throughout the summer.
3. Provide a Safe Hatching Environment
Make sure your ducks’ surroundings are predator-proof. If you allow a broody duck to sit on an exposed nest of eggs, you risk her life. In the eyes of a predator such as stray dogs, raccoons, cats, or even coyotes, that’s just a “sitting duck.”
If your nest is outdoors, keep your mother duck safe by ensuring she’s in a coop that predators cannot access whatsoever.
4. Ensure a Constant Supply of Food and Clean Water
Water is essential for the mother duck during the hatching process. Remember, there’s a certain level of humidity that duck eggs require for them to hatch. These levels vary from time to time, depending on what stage of development the egg is in.
Interestingly, momma duck, with her instincts, is well aware of this requirement. Therefore, as long as you provide her with clean water all through that, she can swim in, she’ll use her feathers to provide the eggs with the ideal humidity levels.
Several times a day, a broody duck leaves her nest to do several things. First, she stretches, then feeds, drinks water, and poops. Lastly, she’ll bathe or swim before getting back to the nest.
Therefore, enough food and drinking, and swimming water are necessities during the hatching process. Otherwise, the mother duck will have inadequate energy and moisture levels on her feathers to sustain the developing eggs.
5. Keep Watching Out for Spoilt Eggs
Sometimes, your mother duck may intentionally roll an egg out of the nest. If she does that, it means something somewhere is not right with the egg. For example, the egg may not be developing well.
The momma duck is pretty smart. She eliminates the bad egg to protect her other eggs from potential contamination. She knows that the spoiled egg may explode any minute, exposing her other eggs to bacteria and probably killing the developing ducklings within these eggs.
So, what should you do with such an egg? Some people are tempted to take the egg back to the nest, thinking she accidentally rolled out the egg. Although this is possible, it’s not worth taking your chances. It’s best to confirm that the egg is okay before taking it back to the nest.
You can test for an egg’s viability using any of these techniques:
- Smell the egg. If you detect any foul odor, then the egg is undoubtedly bad.
- Check if the egg is developing normally. Use a flashlight or candle in a dark room. Observe closely to see whether there is any development ongoing.
6. Be Keener From the 24th Day Onwards
Your momma duck may have done an excellent job during the first few weeks of incubation, but this doesn’t guarantee a smooth ending.
Sometimes, the mother duck may start showing aggression towards the soon-to-hatch eggs. If this happens, you’ll have no choice but to separate her from the eggs.
Unfortunately, such an occurrence calls for other means of completing the hatching process. It can get to a point where you have no other option than to lie with the eggs on your couch overnight, waiting for the ducklings to hatch on your chest. It’s happened to some people.
However, the best thing to do is find an incubator and complete the hatching process with fewer hassles.
Timing is imperative during hatching. Immediately the momma duck first sits on her eggs, mark the date on your calendar to ensure your timing is perfect all through.
Wrap Up
So, how to hatch a duck egg without an incubator? In conclusion, it’s important to note the big difference between eggs hatched using an incubator and eggs hatched using a duck or a lamp. Besides supplying the eggs with heat, an incubator regulates humidity pretty well.
Therefore, when hatching duck eggs without an incubator, humidity should be your primary concern. Yes, the duck will provide the required temperatures, but have you availed enough water to her?
Remember, lack of humidity can lead to the ducklings getting stuck inside the eggs and eventually dying before hatching. However, if you follow the tips mentioned above, you’ll succeed at hatching duck eggs without an incubator.