Duck eggs

[DerekBrandi]

Our ducks (1 pekin, 1 Cuyoga, 1 magpie, and 1 rauen) are starting to lay eggs, I'm not sure who's actually laying and who's not, we just randomly find larger sized white eggs in their pens. The only male duck we have is a Rauen though. Can he fertilize the eggs of the other breeds? We OFTEN see him breeding the magpie and the female rauen, and occasionally the pekin. However, NONE of them EVER sit on their eggs or the 'nest' they sometimes lay them in. They dont have an established 'nest' like chickens or even some other ducks, they just randomly lay them in different places, then leave them. I'm not sure if they'll hatch because of the breed difference, and not sure what to do about them not 'sitting' on their eggs. Can anyone tell me anything about how to fix this or if they will even hatch with the breed difference? The pekin is around 18 mos old, so is the male rauen, the cuyoga female is around a year, and the other 2 were born in april of this year.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
yes your male rouen can fertilize the eggs of your females. you'll have mixed ducklings. do you have any place designated for them to go if they wanted to to lay their eggs? And they just might not be ready to become broody. I have Muscovies and they are broody machines, not sure on your breeds if they are known for broodiness, some breeds it been bred out of.

but then again you might just have to wait till next spring to find out since the weather is changing and daylight is less and less. and

 

[zzGypsy]

yes your rouen drake should be able to breed the other ducks for fertile eggs.

many ducks, when they first start laying, lay eggs randomly wherever they happen to be when the urge strikes them. once they start to think about getting broody they'll get a bit more organized about where they lay. That is, IF they get broody. I haven't found that our rouens or cayugas are particularly interested in setting, although occasionally one does. Pekins aren't known for broodiness either, and I don't know about magpies. it's unlikely they'll even think about brooding until spring. we had a couple of true mallards last year, they do seem to want to brood, which makes sense, since it's a wild breed.

if you want to get them laying in the same location, bait eggs might help, as will a nest box they like. We use wood crates on their sides, fill them a couple of inches with straw or hay, and turn them a bit away from the high-traffic side of the pen. Ducks often prefer a private, hidden location to nest in, so if you give them one, they may use it. adding some artificial eggs to the nest may help as well, it kind of gives them a clue. I've found our ducks know the difference between a plastic easter egg and ones that better mimic the real eggs... they'll nudge the plastic ones out of the nest, but are less likely to do so if they're weighted (we filled some with sand, then glued them closed.) our ducks were *not* impressed with the painted wood ones... don't know why but those got kicked out regularly.

after the first 6 or 8 weeks of laying, we find most of the ducks lay in the nests most of the time... but we still find some strays here and there occasionally. I've found the second-year and older layers mostly lay in the nests.

If you want to make sure you get eggs hatching, you'll probably need an incubator, or a broody hen you can sneak them under.