New (soon to be) duck dad! Muscovys! Need advice :D

[ljmastercraft]

Hi -
Noob here - Know nothing about duck eggs, but I do know how to enjoy duck at a good restaurant.
Had a family friend who discovered a Muscovy duck sitting on a nest right by her back door. She chased the bird away, and was going to throw the eggs out but I found out and told her to keep them, and drove over.
Couldn't bear to throw them away, and couldn't find the mother to relocate (they back up to a large pond), so I took the eggs, bought an incubator, and am going to try to hatch them. My sister lives a few hours away and is on a large part of (several acres of forest) land that includes a pond. They have a mosquito problem, so she said she'd take the ducks and give them a new life at her pond.

Right now the eggs are in an incubator. This Saturday will be 7 days since I took the eggs, but I don't know how long they've been in the nest prior - I would imagine no more than a week.

Keeping temperature 99.5 degrees, humidity 50-54%. It's got an auto-rotate function. I bought 25lbs of duck starter food (higher protein apparently), and my plan is once they hatch to keep them indoors (i have a little enclosure i built out of cardboard, with a heating element), and after a few weeks (2-3) let them roam around outside (i'll build a chicken wire enclosure in my back yard, with a little shallow kids pool and ramps so they can get in and out)

Looking for any suggestions. I'm trying to do the right thing here, but I'm really enjoying having little ducklings

Attaching pictures of the mama muscovy (before the neighbor chased it away), the nest, the eggs in the incubator, and the incubator itself.

 

[nuthatched]

Have you candled the eggs at all?

 

[ljmastercraft]

an

Yes, sorry - did that last night. This is what I see (see photos)

Not a whole lot, but i do see what looks like SOME veins (hard to see in the photos)

 

[ljmastercraft]

I can candle each egg if you'd like. It's likely the eggs are <10 days, since the neighbor suspects the duck was sitting on the eggs for only 2 or 3 days before spotting it and chasing it off.

 

[nuthatched]

Yes, sorry - did that last night. This is what I see (see photos)

Not a whole lot, but i do see what looks like SOME veins (hard to see in the photos)

I'd give them a week and check again, it takes about a month for them to hatch.

 

[DukesDucks]

By my count it looks like about 20 eggs. Assuming 1 eggs a day, that nest has been there awhile. You neighbour may have only noticed it when the female started consistently sitting one them. IMO one of natures miracles that eggs can be laid over a period of time, yet all hatch over a couple of days.
Muscovy eggs take longer to hatch, an average of 35 days.
I would candle again in 10 days as you should see clearer results. I tend to mark questionable ones. When I candle again in another week, those not developing should be obvious. Discard them.
Worst case/ best case are you prepared for 20 ducklings?

 

[ljmastercraft]

I am 100% prepared for 20 ducklings - food, enclosure, heating pats, the works.

Candled 2 yesterday and saw this (attached). also i swear i could see the little embryo moving inside!!

 

[ljmastercraft]

how far along would you say they are? mostly: how much time until they hatch? i'm making sure their egg turner is turning them, making sure i keep 99.5 degrees and 50-55% humidity, etc.

 

[Bolfreak]

I am 100% prepared for 20 ducklings - food, enclosure, heating pats, the works.

Candled 2 yesterday and saw this (attached). also i swear i could see the little embryo moving inside!!

How eggciting!!! When I had ducklings inside, what worked for me:
A rubbermaid trough with a layer of pelleted shavings covered by a thin layer of flake (not fine) shavings. Spot clean as much as possible and add more flakes, ducks are MESSY. You shouldn’t need to wholesale clean as often, but if you do, mulch your plants with this - they will love it.
I didn’t use a lamp, but a panel heater/brooder set vertically. Heater setting first week or so then bump down to brooder.
Food and water bowls set inside a larger shallow dish will help contain some mess. No tip dog bowls work well inside a flowerpot tray. I also started feeding them greens floating in their water since mine free range (grass, sourgrass, dandelions especially). If you don’t have a yard like that, you can buy similar products for pet birds (bird greens). Eventually you will need to get them a bowl of grit unless they are free ranging before a month old.
Don’t forget the niacin especially in the early weeks, I use a horse product called Optizyme that’s mostly brewer’s yeast.
Check them a lot at first for navels and pasty butt.
Keep us posted!

 

[Bolfreak]

How’s it going @ljmastercraft ? Any updates?