DuckyMolly
In the Brooder
- Sep 25, 2021
- 12
- 27
- 46
Writing this fast, so pardon any grammar errors.
This is the situation:
Late this March, Jamboree (my female duck of a drake-hen pair) began laying, and soon after became broody. I don't know if she had ever laid/hatched before since I bought her as an adult, but she was super faithful about staying on her nest to the point that I had to bring the food and water right next to her nest so she could take care of herself. I decided that instead of harvesting her eggs I would leave them be and let her hatch them. I have never hatched anything before, so I decided to leave it to the expert.
It's been a little over a month since then. I haven't been candling the eggs because I'm afraid of disturbing the nest, but Jamboree has remained very faithful about staying on her eggs all throughout.
Then tonight we had a hiccup. I have a 24 year old brother with special needs who is helpful around the homestead, (he's able bodied but has the extremely limited verbal the communication skills). He has the job of gathering chicken eggs and closing all the birds in at night, but he has been told not to touch the duck eggs so they could hatch into baby ducklings! He got the message and the instructions were followed... for a while...
... until we bought a few baby chicks and set up a brooder. The moment my brother saw the brooder he decided it was his job to take ALL the unhatched eggs that were under Jamboree and place them in with the chicks.
The moment I realized what happened I went right to work trying to put everything back. Didn't even take the opportunity to candle any of the eggs... I just threw away one that was clearly rotten and tried to set things right. Jamboree was sitting on the empty nest , and was very unhappy with me as I tried to put the eggs back, biting at my hands like a good protective mom.
Will she take them back despite the upset? Should I take the eggs out again and put them under a heat lamp? I don't know what to do. This is a very specific problem and I'm completely in the dark. Please help!
This is the situation:
Late this March, Jamboree (my female duck of a drake-hen pair) began laying, and soon after became broody. I don't know if she had ever laid/hatched before since I bought her as an adult, but she was super faithful about staying on her nest to the point that I had to bring the food and water right next to her nest so she could take care of herself. I decided that instead of harvesting her eggs I would leave them be and let her hatch them. I have never hatched anything before, so I decided to leave it to the expert.
It's been a little over a month since then. I haven't been candling the eggs because I'm afraid of disturbing the nest, but Jamboree has remained very faithful about staying on her eggs all throughout.
Then tonight we had a hiccup. I have a 24 year old brother with special needs who is helpful around the homestead, (he's able bodied but has the extremely limited verbal the communication skills). He has the job of gathering chicken eggs and closing all the birds in at night, but he has been told not to touch the duck eggs so they could hatch into baby ducklings! He got the message and the instructions were followed... for a while...
... until we bought a few baby chicks and set up a brooder. The moment my brother saw the brooder he decided it was his job to take ALL the unhatched eggs that were under Jamboree and place them in with the chicks.
The moment I realized what happened I went right to work trying to put everything back. Didn't even take the opportunity to candle any of the eggs... I just threw away one that was clearly rotten and tried to set things right. Jamboree was sitting on the empty nest , and was very unhappy with me as I tried to put the eggs back, biting at my hands like a good protective mom.
Will she take them back despite the upset? Should I take the eggs out again and put them under a heat lamp? I don't know what to do. This is a very specific problem and I'm completely in the dark. Please help!
