Duck Egg? Chicken Egg? I'm so confused.

[ruth]

I have my ducks, Rouens and Mallards, in separate yard from the chickens but I have two little Araucanas that have always jumped the fence every day and hang out with the ducks all day long. Everyone is 4-5 months old and they all just started laying.

First I found a hidden nest in duck house with 4 large white duck eggs and 12 small green eggs which I thought were Araucana eggs. I also found one huge green egg that had a double yolk and double air sac and I started a thread "Twins" - it didn't turn out to be fertile so I eventually tossed it out.

A couple of days ago I check and there's another nest, this time 6 large white duck eggs and 6 LARGE green eggs. I'm thinking no way they can be from little Araucana who also has started hanging out in chicken coop to lay but didn't think ducks laid green eggs. I knew the Rouens did not because I hatched them myself and they came from white eggs. BUT...these were obviously duck eggs because they have that waxy translucent type of shell. I do some online research and find that Mallards lay green eggs. O.K. I'm getting more confused because I only have 4 females, 1 definite Rouen and the other 3 I thought were Mallards though it might be I have 2 of each. In any event how can 4 ducks lay almost two dozen eggs in just a few days? I took 12 out of the nest and left probably another 8. I put them in bator and am waiting to see if they are fertile.

Then I go and look at remaining 4 small green eggs that went in bator when I first found them, that are developing and they too are duck eggs - the shell and color is consistent they are just very small.

Now I have a broody duck sitting on the nest in duck house and I don't know how many more eggs they have laid since I took them out of nest. I do know there are a few RIR eggs in nest and some duck eggs that were in very bottom practially buried that have been there for a long time.

I guess it's going to be interesting to see what hatches and if she will care for baby chicks. Hopefully I get some baby ducks from her and can add the baby ducks I'll get from my bator.

In any event, if Mallards don't lay green eggs, I'm really confused and still don't know how they are laying so many. Plus now I don't know which green eggs in my bator are duck eggs and which are EE or Araucana eggs so I don't know if they will hatch at 21 days or 28 days. I'm so confused. I have a duck setting on a mixed nest of eggs and I have a bator full of mixed eggs and don't know which are which.

Mallards do lay green eggs right? I only found one article that mentioned that. If not, boy am I REALLY confused.

 

[MissPrissy]

I am fairly certain mallards lay green eggs.

 

[ruth]

Thanks Miss Prissy - I really had no idea. But now I don't know which green eggs are ducks and which are chickens.

One good thing is that I have a broody hen setting on a nest in my laundry room/shed so any chicks that hatch from under Broody Duck will get moved to Broody Hen. Any ducks that hatch in my bator will go to Broody Duck - any chicks that hatch will go to Broody Hen.

At least that's the plan - we'll see how it goes.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
OMG!!! I hope you can keep that all straight!! good luck!!

 

[cluckers&quackers]

My mallard duck lays green eggs, and when laying she lays one egg every day.

My Aracauna is a new layer so her eggs are small, but I compared it to my duck egg, my aracauna egg has a shinier shell with a brighter look to it than the duck egg. The duck egg has a deeper color, and less shiny shell. The best way to describe it would be to say that the chicken egg has a brighter more vibrant color where as the duck egg has a deeper, duller color. (hope that makes sense.) Don't know if that will help you out any in trying to figure yours out?

Good luck!!

 

[henjoy]

I have a call duck that lays bluish-green eggs. The duck eggs that I get have a different texture to their shell than the hen eggs. The duck eggs have a smoother, waxy feel. Hope this helps.

 

[TheNewMrsEvans]

So you can have a mother hen hatch out ducklings? and vise versa as well? Don't they take different times? That would be great if I could put call duck eggs under my broody hen...i thought i had to wait for a duck to set...

 

[ruth]

Quote:
Yes, you can put fertile eggs under any setting chicken or duck. They raise peacocks by putting the eggs under a setting chicken. A setting hen (chicken or duck) will set till they hatch, will set if they aren't even fertile till she finally gives up. So while a chicken egg takes 21 days and duck eggs start at 28 days - if you have a broody of either you can use them to hatch the eggs. Of couse you will want to take the babies away after they hatch - which seems kinda mean cause she won't understand. But a duck trying to raise chicks and a hen trying to raise ducks probably wouldn't work too well but they can certainly set them till hatch. A peacock breeder told me they keep the setting hens setting for up to six months by taking away the eggs just before hatch and replacing with new ones so she just keeps setting. Again, seems kinda mean but that's the way it's done.

I just had a little Araucana go broody. She's setting on a nest of various chicken eggs in hen house.

I did go yesterday and took the chicken eggs out of the duck nest while she was taking a break. Because I didn't want them to hatch first and have her give up on the nest of duck eggs that would need another week, while she ran around farm with a bunch of baby chicks. Can't even imagine if she tried to take them to the pond for a swim.

I put the chicken eggs in my bator and candled them but they don't look fertile or look like they've gone bad. They were in bottom of nest buried in dirt. These I KNOW are chicken eggs because they are small and dark brown and I have a RIR that lays in duck house.

I have learned to spot the difference in shell between the duck eggs and the chicken eggs. The green duck eggs are the exact same color as some of my Araucana, Ameraucana, and EE eggs but have a waxy appearance. And I don't have any white egg laying chickens so know the white ones are duck eggs but they too have that waxy appearance. It's just that I had no idea that Mallards laid green eggs.

In any event, right now I have about 18 duck eggs in my bator, 3 are pipping right now - the first three small green eggs I found in duck house and thought were my Araucanas. I would have been so shocked tonight when they hatched out as ducklings. The broody duck is setting on a nest of about 2 dozen duck eggs best I could tell and my broody hen in laundry room is setting on 13 chicken eggs and now I have the little broody Araucana in coop which only has about 4 eggs under her but I'm going to add some more green/blue chicken eggs so hopefully she will hatch some more of her own kind.

It's going to be a real baby nursery around here soon.