First Egg Ever!!!!

[Bananarose24]

My husband found our FIRST EVER DUCKIE EGG LAST NIGHT!!!!
And another one came this morning!!!

It has been fairly warm here lately (save for snow last week)..
We know which hen is laying.. and this is our first ever experience with eggs!
We've had our Muscovies for about 9 months, got them at the end of the season last year.. and they were hatched last year as well, so this is their first time laying!

So far we've taken the 2 eggs, but, we're talking about letting her hatch a few..
We have 2 males and 3 females right now..

This morning when I collected the egg, I noticed 2 Nests that she appears to be building out of the hay, one in the corner of the pen, another in their igloo (dog igloo in the pen)...She must have started nesting last night because they were not there yesterday..

However, her egg this morning was not "in" the nest.. it was far from it in fact..
We are going to put a cat box with a lid on it in there as another nest for her to use as well..

And we're going to start researching everything we can find about hatching eggs..
Will she eventually lay the eggs in her nest? Or will she move them there once their are several or what?

We are both new to this as I said and would like to set the ducks up to have as easy a time as possible If we decide to let them hatch some ducklings..
So, any ideas/advice are appreciated!!

 

[jennifersmith326]

It's got gold in it. LOL

 

[Bananarose24]

Quote:
I know, it looks that way doesnt it!

 

[The Duck ABC's]

Out of experience the first eggs are usually not good. The duck is still balancing the hormones and as a result they are usually not fertile or simply wont develop. For first time layers it is usually the first 2 weeks, for repeat layers only one week. For now I would simply take the eggs way. Let her hormones get balanced and then let her have her clutch of eggs.

 

[gofasterstripe]

Congratulations on your 1st egg. Eggciting isnt it.

 

[Bananarose24]

The Duck ABC's :

Out of experience the first eggs are usually not good. The duck is still balancing the hormones and as a result they are usually not fertile or simply wont develop. For first time layers it is usually the first 2 weeks, for repeat layers only one week. For now I would simply take the eggs way. Let her hormones get balanced and then let her have her clutch of eggs.

Interesting.. what do you mean by 'first time layers it is usually the first 2 weeks, repeat layers only one week'.. one week and two weeks for what exactly?
Also, in your experience, how long does it take for first time layers hormones to balance?​

 

[Bananarose24]

Quote:
Eggsactly!

 

[The Duck ABC's]

First time layer, is a duck who just started to lay eggs and never has laid before. A very young duck usually around 6 months of age, give or take a few weeks depending on breed etc. This duck needs 2 weeks to get the hormones balanced, so the first 14 eggs are not very good for breeding. They are absolutely fine for eating.

A repeat layer is a hen that has taking a winter or molt break, she had been laying before. The hen basically started another laying cycle. Here I give the hen one week to get back into rhythm, and will not use the the first 7 eggs for breeding.