Can a bantam hatch duck eggs?

[mahsmaj]

I have a frizzle hen that was given to me and she is now broody. I was wondering if she could hatch out some duck eggs? Has anyone else done this before?

 

[Kittymomma]

She'll try to hatch whatever you give her, but since duck eggs are on the large side and she's probably fairly small I wouldn't try to put too many under her. Maybe 3-5, you'll have to see how they fit. The other thing to keep in mind is duck eggs take longer to hatch so if she's been broody awhile she may (or may not) give up on them before they're done. I've hatched duck eggs under hens before so I know it works, you just don't want to put them under a hen that's already been broody for awhile unless you know she's one of the ones that will sit for ages. Good luck!

If you have any water nearby be sure to watch when the hen takes the ducklings out for a walk and they decide to go for a swim....my poor hen went bonkers, I think it may have scarred her for life.

 

[ChooksChick]

My understanding is that ducks get off of the nest to swim and get the eggs wet once a day- you may need to spritz them when the gets off the nest to eat daily.

 

[mahsmaj]

She's only been broody for about 24-48 hours now. I went ahead an put some of the duck eggs under her. 6 seemed to fit just fine but when I put 7 under her she couldn't cover them all completely so I just let her have half a dozen. I hope she stays with it and hatches some ducklings!

 

[slightlyscrambled]

I am trying the same thing!! My bantam has 6 and my other hen has 10. They are due to hatch on the 26th.

 

[Kittymomma]

I didn't do anything extra for the duck eggs I put under my broody and she hatched 9/10 fertile eggs. There was one other egg under her, but it turned out to not be fertile.