Duck is sitting!!

[unlucky picker]

Kbgirls haven't bought eggs but last year my mix breed drake was in with a campbell and buff duck. They shared a nest. When eggs started hatching I removed the ducklings and one hen. The other one sat long enough to hatch two more eggs. Had to pick one to be put up with the ducklings. That was hard but didn't have a way to keep two hens. Like you no incubator. I let nature take its course. All ducklings lived. This year have separated before that problem could happen again. Each breed is in on lot. Buff is laying now.

 

[KBgirls]

Kbgirls haven't bought eggs but last year my mix breed drake was in with a campbell and buff duck. They shared a nest. When eggs started hatching I removed the ducklings and one hen. The other one sat long enough to hatch two more eggs. Had to pick one to be put up with the ducklings. That was hard but didn't have a way to keep two hens. Like you no incubator. I let nature take its course. All ducklings lived. This year have separated before that problem could happen again. Each breed is in on lot. Buff is laying now.

I decided to make a homemade incubator it cost me under $20 I'm at day 15 with all four duck eggs doing great moving inside the egg very excited! None of my chickens are Brody so I couldn't use them and my 2 ducks decided to not be mothering anymore right before I got the eggs in the mail!

 

[3rdGenFarmer]

My duck is on her fourth week sitting on eggs but have noticed at her neck it's missing feathers. I'm assuming this is from the male but was wondering if this is normal?

 

[Miss Lydia]

My duck is on her fourth week sitting on eggs but have noticed at her neck it's missing feathers. I'm assuming this is from the male but was wondering if this is normal?

If your duck is close to hatch day I would separate her from the other ducks especially the drake or drakes, mama and ducklings need about 2-3 weeks in sight of the other flock members but not where anyone can get to them. if your duck is missing neck feathers while sitting most likely it's the drake unless she is pulling them out which would probably be hard to do.

 

[3rdGenFarmer]

@misslydia thank you, was told too she'd be okay to stay with my two other females and one male. Wouldn't know how I could separate them since her nest is in the duck house where they lay eggs and sleep at night. Will watch carefully when they hatch

 

[ClapperCounty]

So you'll let your ducks sit in the yard? I have a Welsh Harlequin sitting on a nest hidden in our brush pile but I don't sleep well at night worrying about her! She has about 19-20 days to go.

 

[calilala]

My new golden hybrids were dropping their first eggs randomly in the mud. And then one of the girls disappeared for almost two weeks, I just couldn't find her and there were no new eggs. So was I ever surprised when she popped out of the chicken tractor that has a only a teeny tiny little opening for babies to hide in. I opened up the closed section and there is a huge nest almost a foot across, at least five eggs deep and twenty or thirty on the sides with some chicken eggs mixed in. I don't know what to do. If they all hatch I will have way too many ducks, and I want to encourage her, but I don't want the others to keep laying on her eggs. And some babies would be nice to reward her for all the hard work! Any advice?

 

[sweety birds]

hoping this tread is still being monitored. any any help and advise is very much apreciated.

my story is this, i'm new to ducks, i have 5 mixed breed including 1 drake, and also 2 muskovy drakes.
my one duck in particular Summer began laying on the 24th Dec 2015, unusual i know, she has regularly laid 1 egg every day since. i have put 3 seperate batches of eggs in the incubator and 2/3 never hatched (3rd is still in the incubator due 19th feb) out of these 2 batches that didn't hatch, every egg had fully formed ducks in them (why they didn't hatch is a seperate investigation).so i know they are viable and fertile eggs.
i have a large stone shed where my poultry are kept, all are ranging free on an acre of fenced off land and have free rein of the shed so can come and go as they wish, they are all closed in at night, and happily go in of their own accord,
in the begining summer was just laying her eggs on the floor at random places, i moved what i called the "duck kennel" to the lower end of the shed close to where the ducks like to settle and she started laying in there, but in no particular place with in it, the goose began to lay there also and being told that it is impossable to move a goose i removed the duck eggs. so summer after getting the message decided to shift, she chose the box in the bolow picture, it is actually an out door storage chest that was adapted for use as a brooder for chicks and a cat flap put onthe front. after a few days she then built what you see and continued to lay. this photo was taken on the 3rd and had 10 or 11 eggs in it. since then she has continued to lay so there must be about 16 or 17 eggs in it.

what i really want to know is, is this an indication that she will sit at some point, the way the nest is built ect, or should i remove the eggs. my thinking is that since she chose this nest and has made a nest shape this might be a sign, but she has not started plucking down from her self. providing she goes broody when will she do this? is it just at time of sitting?

 

[Miss Lydia]

hoping this tread is still being monitored. any any help and advise is very much apreciated.

my story is this, i'm new to ducks, i have 5 mixed breed including 1 drake, and also 2 muskovy drakes.
my one duck in particular Summer began laying on the 24th Dec 2015, unusual i know, she has regularly laid 1 egg every day since. i have put 3 seperate batches of eggs in the incubator and 2/3 never hatched (3rd is still in the incubator due 19th feb) out of these 2 batches that didn't hatch, every egg had fully formed ducks in them (why they didn't hatch is a seperate investigation).so i know they are viable and fertile eggs.
i have a large stone shed where my poultry are kept, all are ranging free on an acre of fenced off land and have free rein of the shed so can come and go as they wish, they are all closed in at night, and happily go in of their own accord,
in the begining summer was just laying her eggs on the floor at random places, i moved what i called the "duck kennel" to the lower end of the shed close to where the ducks like to settle and she started laying in there, but in no particular place with in it, the goose began to lay there also and being told that it is impossable to move a goose i removed the duck eggs. so summer after getting the message decided to shift, she chose the box in the bolow picture, it is actually an out door storage chest that was adapted for use as a brooder for chicks and a cat flap put onthe front. after a few days she then built what you see and continued to lay. this photo was taken on the 3rd and had 10 or 11 eggs in it. since then she has continued to lay so there must be about 16 or 17 eggs in it.

what i really want to know is, is this an indication that she will sit at some point, the way the nest is built ect, or should i remove the eggs. my thinking is that since she chose this nest and has made a nest shape this might be a sign, but she has not started plucking down from her self. providing she goes broody when will she do this? is it just at time of sitting?

@caesargirl any ideas?

 

[quackermcpeeps]

This helped me a lot this is my first time owning duck. I was wondering though my female keeps laying down but in different spots and she stays their for a longtime is she about to lay?