Aztec Ducks!

[crazy4ChickensNducks]

I’m so happy to say I found someone selling Aztec hatching eggs this evening and bought a dozen that will be shipped next week. I did everything I could and scoured their FB account to make sure I wasn’t getting scammed (lol) and asked questions about their birds. Seems legit!
it’s a lady in Syracuse NY, which is very close to you @Knighstar679, maybe it is you? Lol

can’t wait to play a part in preserving this breed!

It IS you! Lol I did a little more sleuthing and saw some of the same pictures with that lone East Indies lol! too funny!

 

[WallacetheKhakiCampbell]

Here are my Aztec duckies now all colored in. Please forgive any photo bombs.

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i ordered in several mallards to expand my genetic pool but all but two died.

here is my male
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my one surviving girl.
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Nice looking Cayugas too!!

 

[crazy4ChickensNducks]

@Knighstar679 and @Pyxis
have any tips on hatching these guys’ Eggs? 99.5 temp, but what about humidity during incubation and lockdown?

 

[Pyxis]

@Knighstar679 and @Pyxis
have any tips on hatching these guys’ Eggs? 99.5 temp, but what about humidity during incubation and lockdown?

I treat them a little like Call ducks, because of their Call duck ancestry. I do 100 for temp, and for my area I do 30% humidity, but you might want to weigh the eggs to confirm that will work for you.

Lockdown is 65% as always. I also do mist the eggs, at least towards the end of incubation.

 

[crazy4ChickensNducks]

I treat them a little like Call ducks, because of their Call duck ancestry. I do 100 for temp, and for my area I do 30% humidity, but you might want to weigh the eggs to confirm that will work for you.

Lockdown is 65% as always. I also do mist the eggs

ive Never weighed eggs to determine humidity, how do you go about doing this?

 

[Knighstar679]

ive Never weighed eggs to determine humidity, how do you go about doing this?

You would get a scale that reads in grams. Most digital kitchen scales do. Then number and weigh each egg. Record it. Then weekly you would re-weigh each egg looking to see if it lost the percentage needed to hit the idea weight to lose by lock down day.

I can’t remember what that percentage is now. I usually go off pictures of air cells and trace those. If you notice you have to much or to little air sell or weight loss you adjust the humidity

 

[Pyxis]

I can’t remember what that percentage is now.

12% by lockdown

 

[hfchristy]

Here are some of the duck eggs I have collected in the past two or three days. I like that my Aztecs don’t lay all white eggs. I have one or two that is laying a pink hued egg and a couple different shades of green.
Makes for a pretty looking carton of eggs to me.
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@Knighstar679 Where are you selling these? I haven't seen Aztec eggs listed anywhere.

I'm looking to add a few more bantams since the others I got last year, to go with my lone hatchling and the two I got from you, are very much NOT bantam. Our flock is just backyard pet quality, so if you find yourself with ducklings that don't conform to the breed well enough to keep for breeding, I would be interested in a few!

Christy

 

[Pyxis]

Well, my ducks have been laying and I didn't notice, haha!

They share their coop and run with a few chickens, some of whom are EE pullets. I'd been confused about not getting Aztec eggs, because it seemed like everyone else was. And all the rest of my birds were laying, so it was odd.

Today as I was collecting eggs the thought suddenly occurred to me that I was getting an awful lot of green eggs for the number of EEs I had.

Yep, the ducks were sharing nest boxes with the EEs. The eggs are so similar in color and size that I really didn't notice until I thought about it. I actually had to shine a light through some of them to determine which were duck and which were chicken.

 

[Knighstar679]

Well, my ducks have been laying and I didn't notice, haha!

They share their coop and run with a few chickens, some of whom are EE pullets. I'd been confused about not getting Aztec eggs, because it seemed like everyone else was. And all the rest of my birds were laying, so it was odd.

Today as I was collecting eggs the thought suddenly occurred to me that I was getting an awful lot of green eggs for the number of EEs I had.

Yep, the ducks were sharing nest boxes with the EEs. The eggs are so similar in color and size that I really didn't notice until I thought about it. I actually had to shine a light through some of them to determine which were duck and which were chicken.

My girls will only lay in smaller tight spaces. I have to have two different types of boxes for them. We keep playing Easter egg hunts in the morning because they were hiding their eggs in any nook or cranny they could find.