Call duck eggs...do they get bigger?

[shelleyb1969]

My young blue bibbed duck layed her first egg today!

The prettiest, tiniest, green egg I've ever seen!

Will her eggs get bigger as she matures? And how often will she lay?

 

[brooster]

my hen lays about everyother day until; she starts sitting. my eggs are about the size of a banty egg, im sure the first egg will be smaller, but they will get a little bigger.

 

[shelleyb1969]

Quote:
Is it best to let her brood them herself? This egg does look about the size of a very small banty egg. I'm going to open it tonight and check fertility.

 

[brooster]

well they can be really hard to hatch, IF i can get mine to set i let her do it if not i do it. Also fertility can be hard to get in calls, to raise fertility give thema big pond of fresh water everyday.

 

[shelleyb1969]

Quote:
Thanks, brooster.

1 more question...how long do you give her to "get broody" before you take her eggs?

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Calls are bantam ducks so her eggs will not get much bigger. I have silky bantam ducks (the size of calls) and mine have never been broody. I have my Muscovies for that!

 

[shelleyb1969]

Can a broody hen hatch ducks?

Edited to say: a broody BANTAM hen, like a silkie

 

[brooster]

ducks require different incubation times and humidity, im sure it could work, but i let my ducks do it. I let the nest get full of eggs, if she doesnt set within a week i start collecting eggs to set myself

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

Quote:
You can use a silkie hen, but you need to mist the eggs everyday to keep the humidity up, and it is best to move them to a hatcher right before the hatch, as they can get caught in a silkies foot feathers.

 

[Katy]

I just let my call hens do the hatching too. I haven't tried for a long time to incubate them, but never had much luck doing it myself. The hens always have much better luck.