How to enable my duck to hatch a few eggs...?

[NatJ]

The one with all boys was done at the school and she used my turner where as I hand turn mine
I had thought maybe that was the issue but maybe just bad luck

The gender should be determined before the eggs are laid, so I think just bad luck.

 

[Tennessee Great Granny]

I have a Mallard duck that throws off mainly drakes in her ducklings. Out of her first clutch of 11, only 2 were hens, the rest all drakes. The next clutch had almost all drakes also so she or her mate must carry the drake gene more than the hen gene. In humans the Male determines the sex of the baby I have always heard but I am not sure how it works in the Duck world. If so then my Drake is the one that likes only Sons, lol.

It is the female that carries the gender gene, and I have read it is the same with most birds. The female have Zw and males ZZ chromosomes. But the females of many birds seem to be able to choose one gender over another in laying her eggs. The males can only contribute a Z chromosome to the embryo and the female either a Z or w chromosome. I have been trying to understand the genetics of birds a little better because I am raising sebastopols and would like more white birds than grays or creams. Unfortunately they all carry genetic materials for all colors but some of the males tend to be more dominant in producing one color bird over another. I don't think I can manage a big enough flock to sort out who's producing what. So mixed colors it is I am thinking.

 

[Luv Ducks]

Hi - I've had feral ducks for 10 years but now am trying with domestic. Due to fox and mink my tiny flock was down to one white campbell who has never laid an egg for me (she is 3 years old, a lockdown rescue, I'm told she laid in the past but infrequently). A week ago I acquired a Cayuga drake. Bella laid an egg yesterday in the middle of the run. Today she has made a tidy nest inside the coop (where they are locked at night) and has another egg. I'm very proud!

So... questions please for you kind people - I'd like to hatch a few eggs (we could handle 4 more ducks but preferaby not more).

Assuming these two are mating (her back is muddy), since there has been a male around for a week, when is the first egg that could be fertilised?
(i.e. if she laid an egg today, and first mated a week ago, might it be fertilised?).

Also - how best to leave a few for her to hatch without having her lay 20 eggs before she starts to sit the nest (I've seen it! - one of our feral ducks even successfully raised 21 ducklings but she then promptly died, probably of exhaustion! I don't want 20 ducklings!). I've also seen ducks without a drake sit a nest for weeks with no chance of hatching...

If I take an egg every day will shel keep laying an egg every day? If I leave 4 (numbered!) and then take any new ones daily, will she get the idea and start to sit on them? or does she want to sit on more than that?

(I have a food intolerance for duck eggs so there is no great need for the eggs, although we could give some away and husband can eat them). We have ducks so they can enjoy our pond, but bird lockdown is making that tricky!

Ideally I'd like to have up to 4 youngsters asap so they are a good size by early summer.
Sorry for the very basic qs!

By now your eggs have probably hatched out and I hope you got the ones you wanted. Sorry this is a late reply but for the future you can shake eggs and they will not hatch and mark them and just leave them in the nest. That way the Hen will possibly not keep laying once she has the amount she is happy with. I'd love to know how it all turned out.

 

[Mashie]

By now your eggs have probably hatched out and I hope you got the ones you wanted. Sorry this is a late reply but for the future you can shake eggs and they will not hatch and mark them and just leave them in the nest. That way the Hen will possibly not keep laying once she has the amount she is happy with. I'd love to know how it all turned out.

She has not sat the nest and is still laying one a day -- I have removed some but there are about 20... so I think I have to give up -- maybe clear the nest and see if she starts again. I had some hope a week ago when she did something new, she covered the nest with hay before going out to forage for the day -- but she has not done it again since. So -- no good news, sadly.