Eggs? Please advise :)

[nelleyoukai]

Hey everyone, so I've noticed my pekin girl has been getting out of her pen a lot lately (I thought she'd been flapping over it even though her wings are clipped, but there was a hole in the fence!) anyway, she laid a bunch of eggs behind the fridge on our patio and has been sitting on them, but also regularly getting off them to go for a swim, graze or waddle with the drake.
We've repaired the fence, and my partner moved the eggs into the coop, and she has buried them under the straw and wont go near the coop unless we go inside, then she comes and checks us out through the window.
I've done a yolk check on one of the eggs, which from what I could tell wasn't fertile (no bulls eye?).
Shall I take them out? Will they all be infertile?
This is my first time with a laying duck (I've always ended up with drakes) so I'm not really sure how to go about the egg stuff. We're hoping she will hatch eggs sometime but she's only just started laying eggs last month so maybe shes not quite sure what she's doing yet? I don't know haha. The drake tops her only when she's in the pool for some reason so I don't know if he's even successfully mating her.

 

[Ravynscroft]

Is she sitting on them all night long? Ducks will come off quite frequently especially if it's hot to eat, forage and bathe, but at night they stay put if they're broody... Pekins *usually* don't go broody so she might not figure it out... up to you if you remove the eggs... I'd candle them though and look for any development...

Waterfowl prefer to mate in water and though they will mate on land, water is their preferred place... and it only takes 1 successful mating for her to stay fertile for a couple weeks...

 

[nelleyoukai]

It's winter here so its really cold, she hasn't gone back into the coop since she went in there and covered them with straw.
She sat on them for a full day before they were moved, but I'm wondering if it was because of the heat blowing out behind the fridge haha.
We made the call to remove the eggs,they're just hanging out in the fridge, she's not laying in the coop though so I'm thinking shes hiding them somewhere else.
Unfortunately our fence repair was for nothing, we had a really windy night a couple of days ago and some of the pickets holding up the fence have snapped. i just think we haven't built it correctly so we're starting from scratch.
They're fine though, they keep kicking the dog out of his kennel and bunking up in there for the night the cheeky little buggers.
Also dang, so aside from Muscovies, whats a good broody breed?

 

[Welshies]

It's winter here so its really cold, she hasn't gone back into the coop since she went in there and covered them with straw.

She sat on them for a full day before they were moved, but I'm wondering if it was because of the heat blowing out behind the fridge haha.

We made the call to remove the eggs,they're just hanging out in the fridge, she's not laying in the coop though so I'm thinking shes hiding them somewhere else. 

Unfortunately our fence repair was for nothing, we had a really windy night a couple of days ago and some of the pickets holding up the fence have snapped. i just think we haven't built it correctly so we're starting from scratch.

They're fine though, they keep kicking the dog out of his kennel and bunking up in there for the night the cheeky little buggers.
Also dang, so aside from Muscovies, whats a good broody breed?

That must be a weak fence. And good broodies are:
Rouens, Mallards, Welsh Harlequins, Silver Appleyards, Saxonies, and Cayugas.

 

[nelleyoukai]

Yeah, we're in a new rental and whilst we can keep our ducks we cant build anything that cannot be easily taken down unfortunately.
Wooden pickets and chicken wire is what we have been using but it just isnt strong enough haha.
Our muscovy drake (now rehomed) flattened that fence for escape as soon as he (and us) realised he could fly. He also tore a hole into the side that backs onto the rose bushes which is how our pekin was getting out.
Our pekin and w.h dont really flap to get over the fence but they sometimes push to get under it.
Our last rental already had a pen built so we didnt have this issue there.
The main problem is we're on a tight budget at the moment as my partner has just lost his second job due to the place closing down so finding better materials that dont cost a fortune is important.
Any ideas? Haha

 

[Welshies]

Yeah, we're in a new rental and whilst we can keep our ducks we cant build anything that cannot be easily taken down unfortunately.
Wooden pickets and chicken wire is what we have been using but it just isnt strong enough haha.
Our muscovy drake (now rehomed) flattened that fence for escape as soon as he (and us) realised he could fly. He also tore a hole into the side that backs onto the rose bushes which is how our pekin was getting out.
Our pekin and w.h dont really flap to get over the fence but they sometimes push to get under it.
Our last rental already had a pen built so we didnt have this issue there.
The main problem is we're on a tight budget at the moment as my partner has just lost his second job due to the place closing down so finding better materials that dont cost a fortune is important.
Any ideas? Haha

I know the feeling. My family lives in AB and the economy for oil is going still- and we are THE oilfield province!
I use chicken wire and T Posts (those tall green posts- 7$ each) or metal posts they use as a barrier at certain places (ribbons are strung between them. Metal rods, you could call them). I self pounded these. Get 4 or 5 foot chicken wire and make a 6" or more apron all around- hold it down with "landscaping stakes" or "garden stakes" that pin it down. After 2 weeks you can't even see the apron, and it is very easy and non-damaging to remove.