Confused about my pekin ducks

[pejmo3]

Hello everyone, I just became a member so i'm not sure if this is the right way to do this but I really need some help. I have two pekin ducks, one male one female. They are both young and she just started laying eggs a few weeks ago. She doesn't sit on them, I waited a couple days, leaving the eggs in the nest to see if she would sit on them but no luck. First question, how do I get her to sit on her eggs. After her first few eggs, that were normal, she laid a couple no shell eggs. So I started giving her vegetables, oat meal, rice etc. Now she seems to be doing well with the egg laying, laying one every night. So I have a brooder hen that I place the eggs under. The hen doesn't mind sitting on them, but I would really like for Daisy to sit on her own eggs. How do I get her to do that?

Thank you in advance for any helpful tips.
PJ

 

[pejmo3]

Another question I have is, why would my ducks take out one of the eggs and destroy it after only laying it a couple days prior?

 

[quackers619]

how many eggs were in the nest?

 

[TLWR]

You can't make a duck go broody. They will either decide to sit on their own or they won't.

What are you feeding - soft shelled eggs can be a result of not enough calcium or just being a new layer and getting the kinks worked out.
And every now and then, they'll just lay a soft egg to keep you on your toes.

 

[pejmo3]

there were 2 and they had been there for a couple days, then on the third day she had laid another one but the first one was by their pool broken up.

 

[pejmo3]

Just thought of another question. How long can I leave the eggs in the nest to see if she sits on them before moving them to my brooder chicken so they can hatch?

 

[quackers619]

Just thought of another question. How long can I leave the eggs in the nest to see if she sits on them before moving them to my brooder chicken so they can hatch?

if she is going to sit on her eggs it wont be until she has at least 13 or more eggs.......I had one pekin that wanted to sit on eggs and my other one had no interest in sitting.....So i would let the eggs stack up and then see what happens

 

[cyriuskee]

Pekin ducks are notoriously bad mothers. I have many pekins and have never seen them sit on their eggs. This is because they were bred for meat production. I collect the eggs (that I can find) and incubate them. They will lay their eggs anywhere and everywhere. I often go hunting around the pond's wooded edge searching for them.
As for the egg destruction, they will consume the egg shells as a supplement to produce stronger eggs. You can avoid that by saving your breakfast egg shells and putting them in a separate feed bowl during laying season.
Good luck !

 

[lomine]

I agree that you can't make a duck go broody and the chances of your Pekin going broody are low. It's even more unlikely in such a young duck.

If your broody hen is already sitting on eggs I wouldn't add any duck eggs now. Duck eggs take longer and if all her chicks hatch she may abandon the duck eggs before they are ready. Or she may stay on the nest and leave her chicks to fend for themselves. Not something you want either way. Maybe next time you get a broody hen you can switch out the chicken eggs for duck eggs. Or put few duck eggs in the chicken nesting boxes to see if one of them will sit. You might want to make sure your duck eggs are actually fertile first.

As for the egg eating, as cyriuskee stated your hen might be looking for more calcium. As others have already stated, you should have oyster shell or crushed egg shell out for her. But if the shell is left and they only ate the inside, you might have an egg eater. It could be that the egg was accidentally broken so they ate it but it could also be that one of them purposely broke it. Could be the protein in the feed is too low. Laying hens need a little more protein. I'd up the protein in their diet and keep an eye out for more broken eggs.

 

[pejmo3]

thanks to all of ya'll for helping me with this. A few days ago she started to lay soft/no shell eggs again. She has laid a couple soft eggs in her swimming pool. I am putting out the egg shells that I have cleaned and crushed in with her food as well as giving them greens and other things. I am going to pick up some higher protein food today along with some oyster shells, hopefully that will help. My brooder hen is still sitting on her (daisy's eggs) and they should start to hatch next week or so. I guess I'll just have to continue to pick up daisy's eggs and incubate them myself until my brooder hen is done with the eggs she has. Thanks again for all of ya'lls help.