Hottentot and Ringed Teal Ducks

mckenzie said:

Have your hottentots laid any eggs since you have had them?

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lschin1 said:

yeah have you gotten any ducklings from them this spring?

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Sorry, Ever since the forum upgrade, I haven't ever logged in until now.

No, I haven't seen them mate, so i don't think they will be having any baby ducks. They are about 2.5 years old now.

A little sad, but in a way i am a bit relieved, because i don't have to worry about getting rid of the babies.

Welp, it's a been a long time, but here is an update on my 2 ducks.

Last year she laid one egg and the weather went below freezing that night and it was in the 30s and 40s for about a week after that. She never sat on the egg, so i eventually just threw it out after about 2 or 3 weeks.

However, this year, she laid an egg about 2 or 3 weeks ago and then another last week. She then started sitting on them after i threw in some pine needles and made a basic nest for her. She made deep bowl-like nest out of it and began sitting on them. She then laid another egg on Friday and then another one in the nest this morning. She has been tasking turns sitting on the nest/eggs and eating, lounging. I labeled all 4 eggs with a number and noted the day they were laid.

I don't have an incubator and decided that if she ever did lay and hatch eggs, i would let her do it naturally. I have a 40 gallon pond and i think i may need to cover it or else the ducklings will drown if they go in it. I have 2 pieces of wood i can lay over it to solve that. Other than that, i am waiting to see how everything goes.

Welp, it took a long time, but the eggs hatched.

She laid 6 eggs. The first one didn't make it. She dumped it into the pond about 2 weeks later. I noticed when i was draining the pond, as i do every Sunday.

She later took another egg out and attacked it on the food tray on March 5 or 6 at night and then laid another egg after that,

I took a pic of the 2nd one she attacked and posted it in another thread. I'll edit with a link to it in a minute. It was like a boiled/scrambled egg inside. I didn't see a duckling in it.

i also included a calendar. She started sitting on the eggs full time between Egg 2 and 3, which had me worried, because it was about 30 days already. Going off a 22-26 incubation day, i labeled the calendar with my estimated time for their hatch date.

They all hatched sometime after yesterday morning or afternoon and this morning. I saw whole eggs in the nest yesterday morning when i last checked.

Here is the link to the thread i made about the second egg she attacked.

If anyone knows what happened, let me know.

I didn't get any posts in the hatching section.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/newestpost/1089504

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HottentotTeal said:

My duck carried an egg out of her nest over to the feeding tray i lay out for them and she began breaking the egg. I went in and took it out and removed the food and water, since it got contaminated and it looks like the inside was filled with a rubbery light yellow filling.

I rinsed it more or less to pieces in a water tub to see if there was a duckling in it, but i didn't see anything.

I took a picture of what was left of the "egg insides" below. It's about half the original piece.

Anyone know what happened?

She laid 6 eggs, rolled one into the pond which was 2 weeks older than ll the rest. This one i am not sure which egg it is, but i think it was the last egg, since i didn't see a number on the shell.

They are supposed to start hatching around 03-22 to 03-28 for a time reference. This egg was possibly laid 18 days ago (egg 2) or 14 or 15, which is when i think she laid her 6th egg.

I didn't see any marking on the egg, so it may be Egg 6, but i have been avoiding disrupting the nest/eggs since Egg 5. That was the last time i labeled them. I figured she was done by then.

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Accidental double post