call duck eggs infertile - any tips?

[nop169]

I have small call ducks (more show sized than pet). Currently we have 5 hens to 3 drakes. We feed a layer 17% feed mixed with a 16% gamecock feed & catfish pellets & scratch. They are housed in 6 x 10 pens on the ground (usually on grass or rye). Pools are 3'x4'x6''. They are currently seperated into a group of 1 drake with 2 hens, 2 drakes with 2 hens & one hen alone (think she is a hermaphridite due to her behavior - she protects the other hens & competes to breed them with the males - although she lays very well too!) Our hens lay well with one laying spring & late summer & the others are spring layers. In the past 3 years I have only had 6 fertile eggs. Last year a total of 44 eggs were laid by the 2 normal hens (not the hermph). I seperated the flock into groups this year to try & solve the issue - but with 16 eggs in the incubator now - as of last nite 8 were infertile & the others are not "old enough" to check yet. I see the drakes breeding while in the pools but they seem to slide off before contact. We change water daily or every other day. I AM FRUSTRATED & although they are just our pets - I'd like to increase our numbers. Any suggestions? I will mention the drakes are slightly smaller than all but one of the hens (she was hatched last fall & is not laying yet).

 

[critterranch]

everything sounds fine but what day did you candle your eggs at? i got 20 eggs from a friend only 8 outta 20 were fertile. then i did 20 of mine only 4 were fertile outta 20. i usually candle day 5.

my drakes are smaller too. usually the warmer it gets the more the fertilty gets bettter. going from winter to spring.

i marked all my eggs with dates so i could keep track of fertilty. my 4 fertile eggs were from days 15 and 16 of laying. the first two weeks they were laying they were not fertile. i decided i am going to set eggs once a week on thursdays. to keep track of my fertility. i have 2 incubators so i am going to use one for hatching and one incubating. mine are pet quailty so hatch pretty good.

i would mark all your eggs from the different pens with colors and dates. i use different colored sharpies. my incubatored looks like a rainbow.

 

[critterranch]

i have 12 fertlie eggs in bator on day 7 . going to set another 12 tonight. i have 2 pairs in a 2x8 breeding raisied pen. they have a 4 gallon water container for swimimg . i change once a day.

another thing i noticed is when they started laying there feed intake has tripled. i feed dumor laying pellets from tractor supply. i cant remember % protein.

 

[nop169]

I also date my eggs and usually candle on day 10. I do not lose any that are fertile in my incubation process just do not have very many fertile eggs. I know that this is not too uncommon to have a large number of infertile eggs but to have so few made me think something is not quite right.
Wondered if my pools need to be deeper & am trying one larger pool but it is much harder to change out daily. I had hoped that seperating the hermph would make a difference as I thought she may have been the problem.
Thanks for your suggestions & yes I will continue to try to incubate throughout the laying season. I guess it boils down to the fact that I thought seperating into mating groups rather than one whole flock & seperating the hermph would increase fertility and since so far it hasn't - I am depressed! Got spring fever bad & was so hoping to see veins in the eggs last night!

 

[critterranch]

i just did a candle on my second batch all eggs are 8 days or less before set. i was so excitied 14/15 are fertile.

the only thing i did different this time was i started not to dump swimmimg water at bedtime 6pm. i leave water til morning and then dump and refill. we have had a bit warmer temps around 25f. so water doesn't freeze as much. i think they might be breeding more. in the wee night or early moring hours. what a difference a week can make.