Drake

[tia]

I candled my twenty eggs today, and only 8 are fertile. I have one drake in with 4 females. He is a year old and I have had him for several months. Do you think he is being selective. I thought 1 to 4 or 5 was a good ratio. He is a fairly handsome fellow.... and quite a gentlemen. I was disappointed when I candled the eggs. Anyone else had an experience like this. I expected pretty much all fertile eggs.

 

[sourland]

Tia, are you using an incubator or a broody duck? If a broody duck, 20 eggs are probably too many for her to cover effectively. If you're using an incubator, he's probably only breeding one or two of the ducks. Sometimes a drake will pick a mate and breed only her. Then once she goes broody, all restrictions are limited and everyone is fair game. Maybe he's just one of those type of guys.

 

[tia]

Thanks. He is probably just one of those guys. He was hanging out with the female I got at Holderread's at the same time I got him. Then my black runner Daddodil has been pestering him. I think the three of them hang out, so I guess he has been leaving my fawn/white runners alone. I was kind of hoping to have him mate with one of them. I am using an incubator so I thought twenty eggs would be a good number, good thing I put that many in if only eight are fertile. : )