Basic questions

[eggspecto_patronum]

1. How soon can you tell when a duck will be drake/duck.
Is it sooner on mallards vs cayuga?

2. Eating duck eggs. How does it differ from chickens? Can I store them on the counter or should they be refrigerated? Should they be cleaned or left with the boom on.

3. What's the max duck to drake ratio one would want to have?

 

[Kessel23]

You will be able to tell the earliest based on their voice change. I am not sure exactly how old they are when it changes but I think it is around 2 months.

I treat duck eggs the same as chicken eggs.

Ratios depend on the season and total number of drakes. 1 drake can do ok with as little as 1 hen year round. For the breeding season 6:1 is a good ratio to aim for but you can get away with 5:1. In my climate the hens stop laying and the drakes stop breeding in the winter and don't start up again till mid March. During these times you can have really off ratios. Mine was like 2:1 this winter.