Duck egg questions

[flgardengirl]

Hi, last time my muscovy laid eggs she laid 12 and then sat on them for awhile and then gave up. Now I found 7 eggs in the duckhouse she shares with a few males (yes I know I need more girls!) She doesn't seem to be interested in her eggs right now. So I would like to incubate them because I desperately need more females both for eggs and to eventually keep the males from bothering her so much.

Okay so heres the thing: The eggs had lots of poop on them so I washed them off with lukewarm water and gently dried them. Will they still be good to incubate?

The other question is: How long can I collect eggs for before I set them? It has already been a week. Last time she laid 12 so I am thinking there might be more coming. Should I wait to set them or just set the first 7 now? Thanks

 

[FenDruadin]

You can keep eggs with good success up to 10-15 days. Pooped-on, washed eggs can be incubated--it may lower the hatching percentage by a bit, but most of them should still hatch assuming everything else goes well.

I would wait a couple days if you want to--the worst that could happen is one or two of the earlier eggs might not make it, but then you'll compensate by having new fresh eggs, so you haven't got much to lose.

Good luck!!

 

[flgardengirl]

Thank you. I will wait a few days then, she is still laying one every day. I guess I will go ahead and set at 10 days.