Ducklings and the incubator

We had two ducklings hatch.  Another two tried but didn't make it.  Before I left on my trip I dunked each egg in warm water.  According to one set of directions I had this will help soften the shell so it will be easier for the ducklings to get out.  I guess it helped with the two who had their little bills cracking the shells when I left.  They were the only two that hatched.  My neighbor came over and took them out of the incubator and put them into the 150 gallon stock tank that I had already set up.  Two little ducklings look very out of place in that large tank!  Today I'm going to throw the rest of the eggs away.  Next time I try setting duck eggs I will pay more attention to the humidity, especially when it's time to hatch.

The two ducklings do not look anything alike.  Their mother is a mallard and their father could be either a mallard or a pekin since we have two males.  One of the ducklings looks polka-dotted of yellow and black, which is what a mallard duckling looks like.  The other is all yellow, which is what pekin ducklings look like.  I wonder if the pekin duckling will stand more upright, like pekins do? 

This evening we are going to set the incubator up again, this time for chickens.  The incubator can hold 40 eggs and that's how many we are going to try to hatch.  Don't know how well we will succeed this time but my calendar is clear at the moment and I should be home during hatching time.  Chicks hatch in 21 days...supposedly.