Do broodies work beter than bators??? Help!

[mandelaykay]

When I was a girl I had a few ducks and the three of them would lay in the same nest and take turns sitting on them. Out of the 40 something eggs they hatched two and all three guarded them with their life!!! They were great mommies! O

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

Wow! Now im worried that my six eggs wont hatch out.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
There is always a chance that a broody chicken or duck may leave the nest and eggs. It does happen. It's always good to have an incubator as back up. However, there could be an incubator malfunction as well.

How many ducklings are you wanting to sell to the feed store?

 

[yinepu]

Quote:
i think so long as your eggs are fertile.. and you provide them with optimal conditions for hatching.. you won't have a problem.. that's why I like incubators over broodies.. you can control the humidity and the temp.. and so long as you have a good bator.. and know what you're doing (and the eggs are good to start with) you should have a pretty darn good success rate.. with broodies you just never know if they will be a good mom.. if she will give up and walk away half way through setting.. if a raccoon will come along and kill her and eat the eggs.. there is a lot that can go wrong .. course if you have a shoddy bator all bets are off! lol

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

Quote:
There is always a chance that a broody chicken or duck may leave the nest and eggs. It does happen. It's always good to have an incubator as back up. However, there could be an incubator malfunction as well.

How many ducklings are you wanting to sell to the feed store?

Well.... As many as the feed store will buy from me. Thats where I got my very first ducks. there is also three feed stores around my house. Last time I was there I saw they had like 20 ducklings or so, but I wanted to sell enough to make my money back atleased.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
There is always a chance that a broody chicken or duck may leave the nest and eggs. It does happen. It's always good to have an incubator as back up. However, there could be an incubator malfunction as well.

How many ducklings are you wanting to sell to the feed store?

Well.... As many as the feed store will buy from me. Thats where I got my very first ducks. there is also three feed stores around my house. Last time I was there I saw they had like 20 ducklings or so, but I wanted to sell enough to make my money back atleased.

That sounds like a great idea. Good Luck. I hope that you can make enough money. Ducklings are sooooooooooo cute.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
i think so long as your eggs are fertile.. and you provide them with optimal conditions for hatching.. you won't have a problem.. that's why I like incubators over broodies.. you can control the humidity and the temp.. and so long as you have a good bator.. and know what you're doing (and the eggs are good to start with) you should have a pretty darn good success rate.. with broodies you just never know if they will be a good mom.. if she will give up and walk away half way through setting.. if a raccoon will come along and kill her and eat the eggs.. there is a lot that can go wrong .. course if you have a shoddy bator all bets are off! lol

Yes, this is so true about things that can happen if your broody is setting on eggs. Putting them in a safe place away from predators is always a good idea to increase the chances of a great hatch. That is probably one reason why I have a 99.9% successful hatch with my broody muscovies. They are always safe and secure.

This year they out did themselves. They hatched a little over 100 ducklings for this year and I still have 3 broodies on eggs right now. I have never owned a incubator before. I probably wouldn't know how to plug one up.

I hear people complaining about problmens with temps, humidity and moisture in their incubator and that scares me. With my broodies, all I do is make sure they have food and water everyday and their brooders are clean and check them in 35 days (ducks) and 21 days (chickens). I let the broodies handle the temps, humidity and moisture.

 

[yinepu]

Quote:
i think so long as your eggs are fertile.. and you provide them with optimal conditions for hatching.. you won't have a problem.. that's why I like incubators over broodies.. you can control the humidity and the temp.. and so long as you have a good bator.. and know what you're doing (and the eggs are good to start with) you should have a pretty darn good success rate.. with broodies you just never know if they will be a good mom.. if she will give up and walk away half way through setting.. if a raccoon will come along and kill her and eat the eggs.. there is a lot that can go wrong .. course if you have a shoddy bator all bets are off! lol

Yes, this is so true about things that can happen if your broody is setting on eggs. Putting them in a safe place away from predators is always a good idea to increase the chances of a great hatch. That is probably one reason why I have a 99.9% successful hatch with my broody muscovies. They are always safe and secure.

This year they out did themselves. They hatched a little over 100 ducklings for this year and I still have 3 broodies on eggs right now. I have never owned a incubator before. I probably wouldn't know how to plug one up.

I hear people complaining about problmens with temps, humidity and moisture in their incubator and that scares me. With my broodies, all I do is make sure they have food and water everyday and their brooders are clean and check them in 35 days (ducks) and 21 days (chickens). I let the broodies handle the temps, humidity and moisture.

well.. i tend to have a 90 to 100% hatch rate on my eggs (less than that on shipped ones) when i put them in my incubators.. so I tend to trust that method a bit more than an unpredictable broody! I do want to get some Muscovys one day.. so congrats on yours!

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

Wow! What are you going to do with all those.ducklings? Thats crazy! Lol.i hope that the feed store will want my ducklings though. I will prob. Ask them if they will want them before I hatch or let the ducks hatch the eggs. So I dont get stuck with tons! Of ducklings. My call duck female will prob. Hatch out a brood without me knowing lol and the I will have tons of calls! Lol.

 

[kcfuerst]

I prefer using a broody because she will integrate the chicks into an existing flock. Right now I have two moms taking care of 8 chicks. Between the two, the other girls better not even dare to look sideways at the babies. When I just sit and observe all my 9 girls, the big girls have accepted the little ones quite nicely over the last three weeks. Using a broody is also my choice because I have no way to separate new birds for the negotiation period. Both mommas have taught all the babes how and what to eat, how to take a dust bath, and where to sleep at night. It is amazing to watch.