Hatching duck eggs under a broody hen?

[UtahWelshie]

I was thinking to give the same thing a try. I have a chicken that has always wanted to be a mother, but alas, no roosters are allowed in my area. However, I have a drake and several ducks that often have fertile eggs. I'd think it would be fun to give her a chance at motherhood. The timing is probably key. Anyone got some hints on how to do it right?

 

[702marine]

Lets bring this thread back to life...... Bump Bump Bump...

 

[KatGold]

Alrighty folks, I'm fretting!

I put some duck eggs under my broody hen a few weeks ago. I made the HUGE mistake of not writing down the date (and obviously, I have a thick skull. I put more eggs under another broody a couple of weeks later and made the same mistake :-(

Anyhoo, here's my concern. I candled the duck eggs a week ago. They are very full and dense with a nice air bubble. I thought they'd hatch any day. Four days ago, I heard one rocking around under the hen. I thought they'd start to pip that day, but no ducklings.

Yesterday, my broody was on the roost in the afternoon. I grabbed a light and looked at a couple of eggs. They still look great, like a day 25 or so egg should look, but no internal pip yet. Broody didn't like me looking at her eggs and returned to the nest.

How long after rocking do they tend to get out? Could something have gone drastically wrong in the last few days? Or am I being impatient?

Or the big and scary question is this, when I heard the rolling egg and I peeked under her (just a peek, I didn't remove her), could I have messed up her "lock-down" and shrink wrapped the eggs? This would have been a big no-no if I was using an incubator. Is lockdown different under a mama?