How to Hatch Duck Eggs in Nigeria: Broody Hen, Incubator and Hatching Days

Three ways to hatch your own ducklings, with the days to count and the mistakes to avoid.

Buying ducklings every time you want to expand gets expensive. On 4 October 2026, Jiji showed a day old duck listed at ₦2,800 in Oyo State, and Afrimash listed day old ducklings at ₦5,900. Those are asking prices that vary by seller, breed and location, so check before you buy. Hatching your own may reduce buying costs, but count breeder feed, equipment, electricity, labour and any eggs that fail to hatch before calling it a saving.

The good news is that ducks have been hatching eggs without our help for a very long time. Your job is to give them (or a hen, or a machine) the right conditions and then count the days properly. This guide shows you how, in plain language. If you are just starting out with ducks, read our complete duck farming guide first so the basics are in place.

How Many Days Do Duck Eggs Take to Hatch?

Start here, because everything else depends on it. The Cornell University Duck Research Laboratory says eggs from common ducks like the Pekin need 28 days to hatch, while Muscovy eggs take about 35 days. The Poultry Club, a respected poultry organisation, gives the same figures: 21 days for hen eggs, 28 for duck eggs and 35 for Muscovy.

We count the day the eggs go in as Day 0, so hatch day is Day 28 or Day 35. In Nigeria, you will most likely be counting 35 days. In a study of local duck farming in Imo and Abia States, 98.61 percent of farmers kept only Muscovy ducks. If you keep the local duck, mark 35 days on the wall.

Option 1: Let a Broody Duck Do the Work

“Broody” simply means a bird that has the urge to sit on eggs and will not leave them. For Muscovy keepers, this is the easiest and cheapest option, because the Muscovy is a champion sitter. Cornell says Muscovy ducks are very good setters, able to hatch 12 to 15 duck eggs.

How good is a mother duck? In a Bulgarian study published in the Journal of Central European Agriculture, ten Muscovy mothers each sat on 15 eggs. Fertility was about 97 percent and about 95 percent of the fertile eggs hatched. Nigerian farmers report lower and more varied results. In a survey across Oyo, Osun, Lagos and Niger States, about half the farmers (52 percent) said more than 80 percent of their eggs hatched, while another Nigerian report put Muscovy hatching at about 57 percent. Nest conditions, egg handling, fertility and the different farms and methods studied can all affect these results. The studies do not prove that one factor explains the difference.

How to give her the best chance

• Pick a quiet, dry corner. Keep it off wet ground and safe from snakes, rats, dogs and thieves.
• Put feed and water close by. Cornell says feed and water should be available for the broody duck.
• Don’t give her more eggs than she can cover. Twelve to fifteen is the guide for a Muscovy.
• Don’t keep disturbing her. Check quietly once a day and leave her alone.
• Write the setting date on the wall as Day 0. You will need it on Day 35.

One thing to expect: a sitting duck stops laying. Researchers writing in PLOS ONE note that the Muscovy’s strong broodiness and long sitting time reduce egg production. Nigerian studies report a clutch (the group of eggs a duck lays before she starts to sit) of about 16 to 20 eggs, as in the Imo and Abia study. So the pattern is: she lays about 16 to 20 eggs, sits for 35 days, raises her ducklings, then starts again.

Option 2: Use a Broody Hen

You don’t have to own a Muscovy hen to hatch ducks. Cornell notes that duck eggs may be hatched under a broody duck or even a broody chicken. This is useful if you keep Pekins or other ducks that rarely sit.

Duck eggs are bigger than chicken eggs, so a hen covers fewer of them. The guide Duck keeping in the tropics, hosted by the FAO, says a chicken can incubate only 8 to 11 duck eggs at most.

Now the part that surprises people. A hen normally sits for 21 days. Muscovy eggs need 35, so she has to stay on the nest two weeks longer than she is used to. Not every hen has that patience. The Poultry Club suggests testing a hen first: leave her for a day or so on a few unimportant eggs to see that she is serious, then put the eggs you want to hatch under her, preferably at night.

Option 3: Use an Incubator

An incubator is a machine that copies what the broody bird does: steady warmth, enough moisture, and regular turning. It is the best choice when you want to hatch many eggs at once or when you don’t keep a broody bird. Here are the facts you need.

• Temperature and humidity: a 2019 review in Biological Rhythm Research, by a team including researchers at Zagazig University in Egypt, reports 37.8°C and 60 percent humidity for Pekin ducks from Day 0 to Day 24 of incubation. That figure is for Pekin eggs and is not a universal setting. Cornell uses 37.5°C and 55 percent humidity in its own basic procedure, which illustrates why the machine instructions matter. For Muscovy eggs, and for your own machine, follow the incubator maker’s manual.
• Turning: Cornell says eggs must be turned at least four times a day, by hand or automatically. Most automatic turners move them every hour. The same review reports that eggs which are not turned hatch poorly and a few days late.
• Moving to the hatching tray: Cornell keeps Pekin eggs in the main setter until Day 25, then moves them to a hatcher where they stay until Day 28. For Muscovy, Day 32 is a provisional date: it simply counts the same three days back from Day 35. Confirm it in your incubator manual or with a hatchery before you rely on it.
• Candling: this means holding a bright light against the egg in a dark room so you can see inside. The Poultry Club says eggs can be candled after seven days of incubation. An egg that looks clear may be infertile or may have stopped developing very early. If you are unsure, mark it and check again after a few days before discarding it. Remove leaking or foul smelling eggs safely.
• Muscovy eggs after about Day 16: the Bulgarian study found that Muscovy eggs have a fatty yolk and give off more heat in the second half of incubation, so they may need more cooling from around Day 16. We are not giving a cooling routine here. Treat Day 16 as your reminder to check your incubator manual, or ask the seller or a hatchery what to do for Muscovy eggs in your machine.

Choosing and Storing Eggs for Hatching

You can do everything right with the machine and still fail if the eggs were bad to begin with.

• You need a drake. Eggs are only fertile if the ducks are with a male. A Daily Trust report quoted a vet who advised one male for every six laying ducks.
• Use fresh eggs. A review in the World’s Poultry Science Journal reports that duck eggs stored for three days hatched better than those stored for seven, and that hatchability drops significantly after 14 days. So set your eggs within a week if you can, and recognise that storage beyond two weeks carries a greater risk of poor hatchability rather than a guaranteed failure.
• Skip the small ones. The same review says medium sized Muscovy eggs hatched better than small ones.
• Store them cool and shaded. Keep them away from sun and heat, and write the lay date on each egg with a pencil so you always know their age.

Power Cuts: The Problem Every Nigerian Hatcher Knows

If your incubator is your only source of heat and the light goes, you can lose a whole batch. Brinsea, an incubator maker, says eggs likely to be cooled for more than two hours need to be handled differently depending on how far along they are. For eggs past day 14, its advice is to limit heat loss, which means keeping the incubator closed. Eggs that are only a few days old generally cope with cooling better than eggs close to hatching.

We could not find duck specific research on how long eggs survive a power cut in Nigerian conditions, so don’t gamble. Make a plan before you set eggs:

• Get an inverter or solar battery that can carry the incubator. Ask the seller for its power rating so the backup is the right size.
• If the light goes, keep the incubator closed. Opening it to check lets the heat escape.
• Keep the room sheltered from cold draughts and follow the maker’s outage instructions. Never block the incubator vents or use an improvised flame or heater that could overheat the eggs or start a fire.
• Split your risk. Put some eggs under a broody duck or hen, so one power cut can’t take everything.

When Things Go Wrong: Common Hatching Problems

Keep a simple record for each batch: how many eggs you set, how many were fertile at candling, and how many ducklings hatched. Divide the ducklings hatched by the eggs set and multiply by 100 to get your hatch percentage. After a few batches, you will know what works on your farm, and that is worth more than any guide.

After the Hatch

Ducklings need warmth, clean water and the right feed from day one. Go through the brooding and niacin sections in our beginner guide, and ask a qualified vet how to recognise illness before your first batch comes out. If you plan to sell your ducks, talk to buyers before you set a batch. Record your ducklings’ deaths and culls with our Mortality and Survival Tracker, and keep your pens from getting overcrowded with the Space and Stocking Density Calculator.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long do duck eggs take to hatch?

Most duck eggs, including Pekin, take 28 days. Muscovy eggs take about 35 days.

Can a chicken hatch duck eggs?

Yes. A broody hen can hatch duck eggs, but she can only cover about 8 to 11 of them, and for Muscovy eggs she must sit 35 days instead of her usual 21.

How many eggs can a Muscovy duck sit on?

About 12 to 15 eggs, according to Cornell’s Duck Research Laboratory.

Do I need a drake to get fertile duck eggs?

Yes. Without a drake, the eggs will not be fertile and will never hatch. One report quoted a vet who advised one drake for every six laying ducks.

How long can I store duck eggs before setting them?

As short as you can manage. Research shows eggs hatch better after three days of storage than after seven, and hatchability drops sharply after 14 days.

What temperature should I use for duck eggs?

A 2019 review gives 37.8°C and 60 percent humidity for Pekin ducks from Day 0 to Day 24. For Muscovy eggs and for your own machine, follow the incubator maker’s manual.

Final Word

Hatching your own ducklings is not complicated, but it rewards patience and good records. Start with a broody duck if you have one, test a hen if you don’t, and buy an incubator only when you have a backup for the light. Count your days, keep your eggs fresh, and write down what happens. Use the records from each batch to improve the next one.

Incubator settings differ between machines. Always follow the maker’s manual, and confirm prices and equipment locally.