Egg # 3 Arrived This morning Got Some Questions Please!

[FunnyBunnies12]

She laid another health looking 2 1/2 in from top/bottom egg. All 3 are the same size so far, a beautiful pale bluish green. Is that small for an egg for a mallard or Roun? I guess the best description of her is a dark female mallard. With the royal blue in the rings. No wonder the male was so mean and aggressive at 7am, at that time there weren't 3, just 2, 1 1/2hrs later there was 3. Now how long could this go on this egg laying? And is there any specific food to get during egg laying? The forage in the yard, but I get them like the 16% food, I thought I read somewhere add oyster shell when egg laying for harder eggs? I really do want to see what this 1st batch provides if any, call it an experience, learning experience. EWWWW, I just looked outside at the ducks cleaning themselves and other then Oreo(the female) laying eggs, and assuming Ming-Ming(runner) boy, he just confirmed it when I saw a very long pink twisting cork screw hanging out back!! I never saw something like that before, I just told my son he should have named Ming-Ming "Twister"!

Ok, so my question is, what foods or something should I add?

Should I buy an incubator w/automatic egg turner at Tractor Supply?

How long should I let her continue to lay before either taking them away or intervening and getting a incubator and trying that method and then candling them?

Have any of you had fertilized eggs and successful egg laying to a 1st time young mom?

Why would my male be the aggressive mean one and not the female towards the nest/territory?

Will my female turn aggressive when she starts incubation?
(She is such a sweetheart, she actually is a good cuddler when my son brings her in and sits her next to him, she will sit there and actually rest her head on his shoulder.)

When should I calculate incubation, from the day of her laying on them FT to 28-30 days or when she lays the 1st one but doesn't sit?

BIGGEST question/concern: Since she was born with a birth defect of a raised leg as if she was holding it up, but it won't go down. What could the chances be of her offspring having defectiveness, especially considering the dad is a different breed?

I see that she has been turning them, she moved her very 1st one when she made a nest for the other 2, and I numbered them and the numbers aren't facing the way I put them back.

I'm eggcited, what can I say! I really want this to happen, and I really want this to be a learning experience for next time. I know she must have more eggs in her, before she lays I notice she seems to get fuller near the back end, and plop comes another one. She is a every 2 day egg layer. All 3 eggs have been laid every 2 days the 1st one was laid on the 27th.

Sorry for the long post and many questions.

 

[Birdcrazy]

Hey, grats on egg 3

What was it... oyster shell or cuttlefish shell grinded.. ugh cant remember but one of those available will make the eggs stronger I think.

Do you want her to hatch her own babies? 'Cause just leave them and she'll make a nest full of eggs to the size she's satisfied with... but generally if you incubate, the first 3 aren't really worth bothering with.

When my scovy first started laying I left them and she had a pretty good hatch rate out of her first clutch, and if they're mating they pretty much will be fertalised

if your not sure, aslong as the male is the same age or older its a safe bet - since they mature first.

When the female is nesting, the males become defensive (usually) and protective of that area and the nest. They recognise whats going on basically, and your female will become broody once she has a full nest - she will become a grumpy lil girl. (be wary of your fingers

)

Your female will become aggressive, but not always towards you. My girl gets snappy at me when she has the male around for company, but when she doesn't she has never even hissed at me. Even with the male she is fine with me touching, patting ect - I hand raised her, and if your girl is hand raised/people friendly she should be ok with you guys. But it does depend on personality. I'd say she'll put on a show, but be friendly. When I didn't have my male around my girl would call to me and I'd sit with her as much as I could (the male was taken by a predator

)
She also gets very aggressive to the dog. When she's off her nest my dog just hides... my duck will chase/bite ect and my dog is really good natured so she'll just take it all on even though she's 3 x the size

Calculate the incubation days from the day she goes broody/keeps them warm full time.

I'm not too sure about the defect question

I dont think the different breed will matter, and it also depends if its a gene that caused her defect? I hope it goes ok though.

You should be eggcited!

its a great experience and awesome fun!!!!
Good luck!!!!

Hope I answered questions ok!

 

[ejctm]

Hi FB

See my response to your #2 eggs laid thread!

To add, 28 days from day 1 of full time brooding is when you can expect them to hatch as a rule, give or take a day or two either side.

When she does decide to brood full time, then make sure she gets off once a day to poo/eat and drink (if she does not do this by herself) and give her high-energy treats such as mealworms, cooked boiled egg, etc as she will lose weight and condition while brooding. You will need to feed her up with extra vitamins after they hatch like adding a special feed booster to her feed for example. Not everyone does this, but I find it gets them back into condition again much sooner, especially since they are running around looking after babies.

Don't worry about turning, candling, temperature or humidity if she is brooding them - her natural instincts will take care of all of that if she is doing a good job.

 

[katharinad]

Ducks should be offered oyster shell on the side about two weeks before they start to lay. Do not mix into the food, because it is not good for the drake.

Electrolytes and vitamins should be added to the drinking water too. This assures healthy embryos. Deficiencies will result in early deaths within the egg.

You will need to buy a good quality incubator. The ones at the tractor supply store are cheap and have to tendency to be off in the temp. Plus you need about 24 hours to get them up to working temp and a couple of hours extra to fine tune the temp. They are very touchy. Duck eggs either need to be hand turned or used with a goose egg turner, since they need to lay on their side. The chicken egg turner will not work.

Ducks lay until they have a clutch together before they start sitting. That can be 8-20 eggs. Once she sits you start counting. About 4 days later you will see blood vessels when candling. Eggs can be transfered anytime to the incubator. They should be all at the same incubation time or you will have problems with lock down.

It can be bad or good with 1st time egg laying ducks. It's 50/50.

The defect could be passed on if it is genetic. We don't know that. It could have been some freak development in the egg, which is not in her genes.

Eggs need to be turned, even if they are not being incubated or they may not develop at all.

 

[Birdcrazy]

What Katharinad said, but don't stress about the turning, the mother should be doing all that! So no need to get up in the middle of the night with your flashlight to fix up the nest

You should post some pics of your girl and her new (soon to be) nest

 

[duckluv]

Yeah! I want pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!