duck gone broody

danahud

Chirping
6 Years
Apr 22, 2013
123
5
88
Mills river, nc
I have 2 Rouen ducks. the female has been wondering off during the day. I didnt think anything of it since im not getting eggs from my chickens either due to molting and the waning daylight hours. Well i found her the other day sitting on a nest of a dozen eggs!
Very exciting, but with it being the end of october I am worried if the eggs will survive until hatch. I candled 2 of the eggs this morning after she had gotten off the nest. The two that i candled had lots of veining and what looked like a small fuzzy embryo in it. Im trying to figure out about how far along the eggs are so we can estimate a hatch date for the little fuzzballs. Any info would be greatly appreciated.
 
Can't you just buy/burrow/steal/build an incubator and hatch them yourself? Also here is a candling chart to see how much more your eggs have to go.

 
Hi and thanks for the chart. Ive been looking around at different sites and i believe my eggs are over the halfway mark, so that is encouraging.
I have an incubator, but the issue with that is we are going to be out of town for a week so i will not be here to take care of the eggs. Also I have hatched eggs using an incubator and a broody. A broody hen is by far superior to a brooder and a heat lamp in my humble opinion.
I would take the eggs if need be, but i dont want to unless i absolutely have to. the eggs were very warm this morning( we had a low of 36 last night) when i went to candle, so i think momma is doing a pretty good job right now. She even covered the eggs with down before she left!
If the hatch is successful i will bring them all up to our grow out pen where they can stay warm and safe next to momma.

This is just all very surprising since the mother is only 7 months old. My chickens took over a year with some light persuading to go broody!
 
My 2 Rouen girls (about same age as yours) just hatched ducklings this month. One was the full time broody the other helped as needed, also took care of ducklings while the other continued to sit and hatch others. We had some low temps also. Everyone is doing just fine.
 
Ohhh that's wonderful news. Thank you! My 5 year old is very excited about the new ducklings. She kept asking for more chicks for Halloween instead of candy. Lol looks like she got her wish!
 
Ohhh that's wonderful news. Thank you! My 5 year old is very excited about the new ducklings. She kept asking for more chicks for Halloween instead of candy. Lol looks like she got her wish!

Too cute!
 
Here's my sweet girl....
400
 
Each morning my 7 month old Welsh Harlequin have to be chased off their nest of four eggs. They all lay in the same nest box and one is always sitting in the morning. I think it may be the same one each day, but my husband is the one who lets them out of the coop and he can't tell them apart. She has been trying to sit on the eggs almost since they started laying 3 months ago.
 
Well no ducklings yet. I am getting anxious and since I don't know exactly when she started incubating the eggs I try to slip in and check when she comes off to get some water and a snack. The eggs are always so warm and the air cell is huge at this point with the remainder of the egg being solid. A little anxiety would be relieved if I could just see a little beak poking up into the air cell. She hasn't come off the nest to a couple days so maybe we are in lockdown mode and will have some babies soon!
 
Well no ducklings yet. I am getting anxious and since I don't know exactly when she started incubating the eggs I try to slip in and check when she comes off to get some water and a snack. The eggs are always so warm and the air cell is huge at this point with the remainder of the egg being solid. A little anxiety would be relieved if I could just see a little beak poking up into the air cell. She hasn't come off the nest to a couple days so maybe we are in lockdown mode and will have some babies soon!
Sounds like something maybe going on under there. And hello neighbor Western NC here too.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom