Egg Delima

[tbevans]

Hello everyone! I'm pretty new to the "duck" world. I did lots of research but I'm still learning new things constantly. In the spring I purchased 2 pekin ducks and 2 what were supposed to be ruin ducks. The ruins I believe to be mallards because they have no problem flying anywhere they want. From my research I understood ruins can't fly. Please correct me if I'm wrong! Now..I do know that I had a male and a female of the pekin and the male died a couple months ago. I also know I have a male and a female mallard. So here's my delima..I have eggs...3 eggs in the past 4 days. I read they lay 1 a day. So how would I go about finding out which female (the mallard or the pekin) is laying and if they are fertile or not? Also can someone tell me why they are laying the eggs in all different places?? 2 were on the ground in two different places and the other one was laid in their swimming pool?! I put a nesting box in there today when I had a chance to get one. Should I put the laid eggs in the nesting box? Sorry for the long post!! And thanks in advance!!

 

[jducour]

How much do the mallard/Rouen ducks weigh? I know there is a big difference in he size of the two breeds. What color/size are the eggs? From what I have read, mallards lay green eggs, and Pekins lay large white eggs.

If you want to try to nest train your ducks, you can put their eggs in the nesting box, or you can just use golf balls too. My ducks will sometimes drop an egg in an unusual place, but every night they make a nest and arrange their eggs neatly in it every day. Maybe that behavior comes with age?

All eggs have one whitish spot on them, that is the female half of the DNA. If the egg has been fertilized, there will be a bullseye ring around the female DNA spot.

 

[tbevans]

I'm not sure how much they weigh. The eggs are white and not much bigger than a chicken egg. Can I see the bullseye on the shell? I'll try to post some pics of the mallard/ruins and the first egg I found and then one of all 3 of them together

 

[jducour]

Ok, I am thinking Pekin probably then. Yeah, take a picture of the three of them together. You have to crack open the egg and look at the yolk. Google fertile egg yolk, you'll get an idea of what you should look for. I would check a few to be sure if you don't see it at first.

 

[tbevans]

Ok I'll get one tomorrow and see if i can figure it out! Lol I had a feeling it was the pekin because one of the eggs had a white feather on it the other day and I read they cover them with their feathers. Im trying to upload a pic but I'm not having much success...if the eggs turn out to be fertile, should I separate them so I don't keep having mix breeds? Lol Should i use an incubator to hatch them if they are fertile? I've read pekin aren't the best about sitting on the eggs.

 

[jducour]

Sorry, what do you mean? Separate them?

I have never allowed any of my eggs to develop, I am not in the position to have ducklings. I gather all 4 of mine every day and eat them! Yummy! I have two males that are 6 months old. I see them mate their 4 ducks at least 10 times a day, but not every egg we eat has been fertile. I would say maybe half? I think that younger males aren't as fertile as a year old drake.

I could be wrong, but I think you have to have a few posts under your belt before you can upload pictures. I can't remember. I find it easier to upload from my phone.

 

[needlessjunk]

I think you have to have a few posts before you can upload pictures so keep posting and talking to us and then up load a pic. As for the rouens if they fly and are small I bet they are mallards. As to who is laying the eggs... that is anyone's guess. Mallards can lay green eggs or they can lay white. If they are small I would guess that they are the mallards also pekins usually take longer to lay so unless she is older I would bet they are the mallards. Smaller ducks tend to lay sooner but that isn't always the case. To know if they are fertile you will have to crack them open and check. If you want breed specific ducklings then you will have to only collect the mallard eggs. Ducks also tend to drop eggs where ever. Mine did it to me this morning out of spite. I knew 3 still needed to lay and I locked them back up for another hour. They made a nest in the house but wouldn't lay and the min I let them out they ran to the water bowl and everyone laid their egg right then. You can try to train them and it will take some work. Mine lay in the house about 75% of the time and that took some work. I usually go on an egg hunt every few days. Oh and another one laid behind the duck house today and one laid in a potted plant yesterday.

 

[tbevans]

@jducour I was asking if the eggs are fertile and it is the pekin laying them should I separate my mallard from the pekin to keep them from crossbreeding. None of them are a year old yet. I got them in the spring as ducklings. If I decided to keep the eggs for eating, and I skip a day or two of collecting them would they still be good or should I throw them out?

@needlessjunk thanks for the info!! I'm glad I don't have a crazy duck that just lays all over the place...I was trying to figure out how she planned on sitting on them with them being all over the place! Lol

P.s. I'm trying to upload from my phone..I'll keep posting and keep trying! Maybe I'll get one to work! Thanks again!

 

[TLWR]

I'm glad I don't have a crazy duck that just lays all over the place...I was trying to figure out how she planned on sitting on them with them being all over the place! Lol

If they lay eggs all over, they aren't planning on sitting on them. If you plan to incubate and hatch and don't want mixed breed ducks, then yes, you have to separate the pekin away from the rouens/mallards. But then you will want another friend for the lone pekin.

Once they start laying regularly, you may be able to determine who belongs to which eggs and keep the pekin egg out of the mix of ones to be set.

 

[needlessjunk]

@jducour I was asking if the eggs are fertile and it is the pekin laying them should I separate my mallard from the pekin to keep them from crossbreeding. None of them are a year old yet. I got them in the spring as ducklings. If I decided to keep the eggs for eating, and I skip a day or two of collecting them would they still be good or should I throw them out?

@needlessjunk thanks for the info!! I'm glad I don't have a crazy duck that just lays all over the place...I was trying to figure out how she planned on sitting on them with them being all over the place! Lol

P.s. I'm trying to upload from my phone..I'll keep posting and keep trying! Maybe I'll get one to work! Thanks again!

Most domestic ducks aren't good broody hens. Some will sit but most don't generally speaking. So if you really want ducklings you will have to play the waiting game with her and see if she ever makes a nest and starts to lay AND sit on them or you incubate them. Either way I would give it a few weeks before doing either of those since they can have some wacky eggs the first few weeks.