Who's Hatching Ducks? Hatch With Us!! *Page 3*

[Wifezilla]

 

[froggie71]

Love this thread, I've read every single post! Completely new to this, but my boys decided to trying hatching some of our duck and guinea eggs in a bator. We have 16 duck eggs( 8 blue swedish/runner, 4 Khaki campbell/runner, and 4 f/w indian runner), with 3 guinea eggs. I don't remember the day they went in, but hopefully they do. Since this is our first attempt, I've told them not to expect too much, but on first candling all duck eggs were fertile and at least 1 guinea egg was fertile. So, our fingers are crossed!

 

[Calebs Acre]

Welcome, Froggie! Those runner duck eggs are pretty hardy. I actually had one that sat out for almost three weeks hatch! NEVER thought it would!

SO, UPDATE .... I went to the kitchen and heard peeping from the basement. Husband is at work. (We both do the overnight thing). I forced my knees to take the stairs and I w.,as sure rewarded!!! FIVE MORE DUCKLINGS had hatched in a five hour period! We are STILL only on Day 26, coming into Day 27! No photos until we have to open the incubator to move them and clear out shells.

BUT...I have a question....how soon should the duckies start pooping? Yesterday's baby just had its first drink, but hasn't been eating yet...which is no surprise, but I wasn't sure if they would eliminate the yolk or not?

Thanks!! Let's see what happens in a few more hours. I started a blog so that I can use it as a journal of how many eggs we get, my to do list, what I buy....all those mundane things I want to remember that no one else will care about, but I'm finding this form of journalling to be very therapeutic! I love it!

 

[froggie71]

Definitely fun, and rewarding to keep a journal. I started from the time we pick up the ducklings from the post office! My boys joined the 4-H poultry club near us and have project books they are working on so it gives us a good idea how much everything cost and any income we get etc. I've also found that I've taken way more pictures of all our birds then I have of my own kids

 

[Calebs Acre]

OK, THREE MORE!!! Total of NINE since yesterday...one looks weak, so I am concerned, but let's see how it goes. There are still 14 more eggs in the incubator and the bator and the hatch is technically not due until late tonight or tomorrow. I saw another couple eggs with pips. I hope they will be OK. Had to remove some eggshells because it was VERY crowded in there. Hope I didn't kill the others. I went as fast as I could. There was LOTS of humidity in there. Keeping my fingers crossed. I hate that part!

 

[Wifezilla]

They should start pooping within 24 hours or so.

 

[TheDuckCrew]

aww! CONGRATS!!

can anyone help me? i candled yesterday (day 7) and didn't see any veins. only big blobs.

also, should i cool and mist them or not?

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

Quote:
I sometimes don't see any veins until day 10, I wouldn't worry too much yet.

If it is duck eggs, I don't bother cooling or misting - but my hatches haven't been that fantastic, so ya might want to take someone else's advice

meri

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

Congrats on everyone's great hatches - I'm still waiting on action on the goose eggs. No more stinkers, though, so I'm hopeful (still, due date is just today or tomorrow, so no worries yet).

I went to the sale last night and sold 9 blue swedish duckies before I even parked the truck

some guy looked in the back as I was driving in and practically climbed into the truck with me - he wanted those ducks BAD!!

sold all the chickies that I took except one lonely red roo - he lives with the ducks cause no chicken will allow him any peace (they dislike red chickens as much as I do, but he is a nice one so far - he isn't old enough to be psycho or obnoxious yet). My other chickens had serious issues with some red chickens early on in their lives - hence the burning loathing for any red chicken

poor things - I can sympathize. (ask me about the Zombie Rooster I had to kill at least twice...)

meri

 

[WindyOaksYokes]

What a nice big nest! I have no experience with broody ducks, so I am no help, but I am impressed with her skills!

Yah, it was and I do mean "WAS" a nice big beautiful nest

will explain in a minute.

I have a cayuga hen that better start setting before long, or I'm going to pen her up! She has been hiding her nest for 2 weeks, and I can't find it anywhere!

The size of the nest depends on the size of the bird. If she can cover all of them, then it's not too big.

Tossing some of the eggs is normal. It means that the eggs are no good most likely.

Have you not had a broody hen? I make my dad go and check my OEG hen's nest, I like to keep my skin, and she doesn't peck him for some reason

My Cayuga has never sat - in my book that I have on ducks it says that they are fair to good layers - so you have a 50% chance

the nest was alot bigger than she is and she did have eggs on the side... she could not cover then all up... needless to say... as my last reply.. I will tell you all what happened to the nest in a minute...
Glad to hear, tossing is normal
I have never had a broody duck hen, but have had brood chicken hens - I guess the same rules apply for both???

The nest will be however big she makes it. Mine have had small nest, but the other makes a big nest.

As for tossing eggs out. She will push out any eggs that are bad (from my experience only) and yes, she will be very protective. I have one that is protective and the other will just walk away

She is very protective... got attacked this morning...

Now for what happened to the nest -

she tore the nest down, scattered a whole bunch of eggs... made a new nest... small one... and now only has maybe 10 to 12 eggs... this is when I got attacked... I went into her area while hubby was feeding.. thought I would be safe... HECK NO!!! RUN... she attacked... and I let her know that was her domain... I got out quickly... she sat down on her NEW smaller nest and hissed at me to stay away... I much abliged her! So now, glad to know that the only eggs under her are good ones... I am just really baffled... I did not know ducks would tear down one nest... make a new one and roll the eggs to it... has anyone ever expeianced this??