Eggs arent hatching.. :-(

[Quacker lovah]

My beautifull ducks have been mating for some time now (few months) and started laying eggs on the 1 May. Fergie has a super big nest i stopped counting the eggs at 24 as she covered them up and made a second layer on top. I didnt want to dig around and intrude to much. But there has been no progress with the eggs themselves that i can see. Shes not sitting fulltime and each day when i check theres a new white egg on top. How many will she lay about? Im guessing we definately have 30+ eggs now!

 

[rmc88]

I dread to think how many eggs my duck laid to I guessed she stopped at 17 but it's been 35days and no babies I did read they won't set them till they finish laying all of them then they all start developing at the same time I did a float test Sunday and they are dating at 28 days so I'm just as confused as you are

 

[Going Quackers]

what breed is she? and how old. Does she act broody? at the amount i don't even see the nest working, personally i'd start stripping that back...

some ducks love to just set but don't go the whole distance... again though i'd start candling and reducing that to a reasonable amount. Even though scovies are known for large nests i wouldn't leave that quantity with my ladies.

 

[MV Chicks]

i have a mallard that has been sitting for 33 days now. i switched some eggs out in the first week with chicken eggs. then i had a problem with our other ducks laying their eggs in there too. in the end we ended up with a mix of 17 eggs. five chickens hatched at day 22, but, still no ducks.

 

[Quacker lovah]

Hiya..Okay a float test, is that as easy as it sounds? I have read contradicting info about putting the eggs in water as it may strip of the layer that keeps bacteria out do you know if theres any truth to that hun? I really want to find out if there fertile or not as I think I will have to remove some.

 

[Quacker lovah]

Okay thankyou I will candel them today, I haven't wanted to intrude to mch but you are right about the nest it is huge and I believe I do need to start shifting some out for her. Iv never done candling before either!

 

[Quacker lovah]

I believe she is a black cambell and her partner is a white Swedish.