Can a Broody Hen Hatch Ducklings?

[fowl farm]

A sterile duck can not produce offspring. You'rs are probably fine. Don't break open any eggs you have the hen sitting on, it will kill them. I think jdywntr meant an egg you were planning to eat- they'll have a small speck on the yolk.

 

[jdywntr]

I would only break open an egg to be sure that they are fertile before the hen starts to set. No sense in wasting a month if they are not fertile. For me, this is easier than candling and if they are not yet fertile, I can wait until they are to leave them. I wasn't suggesting breaking open an egg that had been incubated. Ducks will lay for a bit before they set so you have plenty of opportunity to check prior to the beginning of incubation.

Sterility being unable to bear offspring, whether it be ducks or people. Just the inability to have babies. Muscovy crosses are sterile.

Yes, if you break open a fertile, incubated egg, you will kill the baby.

 

[SD Bird Lady]

i'm sorry, but what do you mean by sterile? and when i break open the egg, do i kill the baby inside?

Sterile in the sense that a mule cannot reproduce. Its the same as a sterile person. You won't know until you try on this unless they are as previously stated birds that were created by muscovy mallard parentage then they are mules. But you have magpies so this does not apply.

You would only break open a non incubated egg as a sample to see if the other ones are fertilized. So if you are going to put her next 5 eggs under a hen then check maybe one before and one after those five...then you can just eat them or feed them back to the birds whichever. You will want to take her eggs and keep them somewhere and put them under your broody all at once I think instead of as the duck lays them.

Hope this clarifies things.

 

[OreoPlymothRock]

how often do i sprinkle water on the eggs?

 

[OreoPlymothRock]

and thank you all for all of your help. This is my first hatch

 

[OreoPlymothRock]

how often do i sprinkle water on the eggs?

 

[GarDenFarmGirl]

A broody hen can definitely hatch duck eggs. My bantam cochin hen, "mama", went broody in August. I didn't need any more chickens at the time so I gave her a couple of duck eggs to sit on. I did nothing different than I do when she sits on chicken eggs. About 27 days later the first duckling hatched, with the second hatching the following day. She was very protective of them and tried to teach them all of the things I have seen her teach baby chicks she has hatched. She panicked the first time they decided to do for a swim and they never could figure out why she kept taking dust baths and getting dirt all over them. But those ducklings followed mama around even when they were twice her size.

 

[OreoPlymothRock]

i want the ducklings to see the girl duck as their mom, how do i do that? The girl duck doesn't seem to have that mother instinct. When the girl duck lays an egg, she just leaves it there and walks away. The bantam chicken however used to sit on an empty nest, so we put the eggs under her.

 

[sourland]

The duck will not recognize or accept the ducklings as 'hers'. Allow the bantam to raise them and then introduce them to their 'real parents' once they mature.

 

[OreoPlymothRock]

when the eggs are hatching, can i just put the eggs under the duck?