Hatching and Growing a Duck

Ducks are easy to care for but not so easy to hatch. Bacteria and early mishaps can reduce the number of duck eggs that hatch into healthy ducks. After they hatch, all they need is water and food, with common sense dictating how much food is needed. Luckily, they can forage for much of their food themselves.

Things You'll Need

  • Setter
  • Hatcher
  • Brooding pen
  • Container
  • Pellets
Show More

Instructions

    • 1

      Place the duck eggs in a setter for 25 days. Use a setter that turns the eggs roughly every hour. On the 25th day, move the eggs to a hatcher, where the eggs will hatch on the 28th day.

    • 2

      Start the incubator a day or two before introducing the eggs to get the heat and humidity stabilized. The eggs should incubate at 99.5 degrees. Set the relative humidity at 55 percent.

    • 3

      Look for cracked or dirty eggs and throw them away. Place the small side of the egg down. Set the eggs one to three days after they are laid. As time passes, fewer eggs will survive.

    • 4

      Put the eggs in the incubator, and close the door. Check at least four times a day to make sure it is at the right temperature. Turn the duck eggs at least four times a day, though eggs can be turned more often.

    • 5

      Shine a bright light on the egg to see what̵7;s inside. At six days, good eggs have veins that look like spider webs, with a duck embryo growing in the center. At two weeks, the duck and yolk float to the top, with a clear spot underneath. Bad eggs look empty or have a ring, cloudiness, blood spots or pores. These eggs eventually burst open with a bad smell. Discard them before this happens.

    • 6

      Lower the temperature to 97 degrees and the humidity to 70 percent as you near the hatching date. After the eggs hatch, open the ventilator's air vents and wait until the ducks dry before removing them.

    • 7

      Put ducks in a brooding pen that keeps them warm, but not too warm. If the heat lamp causes the ducks to move toward the edge of the pen, they are receiving too much heat. If they huddle together under the heat lamp, they don̵7;t have enough heat.

    • 8

      Provide a container that has water deep enough for the ducks to submerge their beaks in, but not so deep that the ducks can submerge their entire heads.

    • 9

      Feed ducks starter crumbs within 24 hours of hatching, since the duck still lives off the nutrients absorbed from the yolk in its shell. After 10 days, start feeding the ducks pellets. Replace the pellets consumed by the ducks.

    • 10

      Introduce the ducks to water while supervising them so they don't drown. Fill a container with water, and set up a ramp to allow the ducks to easily enter.