Hatching Ducklings

[dorothyofoz5]

Hello,
About 26 days ago we discovered about 7 eggs in my ducks nest and saw her laying on them. After that she would lay on them some but not much.
Now she has about 20 eggs and she started about a week ago laying on them a lot, every morning I come out and she is laying on them for about the first half of the day.
I read that they hatch about 28 days after she starts incubating them. So should I probably count from the time when she really started laying on them rather than when I first discovered them?
Also, some are laid on top of others, will the ones at the bottom be able to hatch? I want to leave them with her and let her hatch them but if it’s not good for them to be on top of each other should I take a few and put them in an incubator?

 

[CayugaJana]

From what I understand she will likely not be able to hatch all of those. You can candle some of them and put in the incubator if you want to hatch all of them. It’s likely some will be duds and you can pitch those. Do you know what you are looking at when you candle them?

 

[Emmaxx]

Sounds a bit like my egg hoarder duck 32 eggs she had all piled on top of each other (plus a couple I took early on and put in the incubator) after building her nest on top of another and then adding to it, letting the original duck lay there too I think, not removing any that would normally be rejected. It was like a turtle nest in the sand!

Just as CayugaJana said, you need to candle all the eggs and remove any that are not developing, put back what has life in it and gauge how far along they are. Mine was left with 14 (now 13) and were all around the same stage, with a couple a few days behind. There were some that had started to develop and quit early on, which I think was down to her not being able to keep them all warm at the same time. They would get warm and develop, get cold and die. If by some luck they are all developing and incubating is a possibility I would say give her back about a dozen or how ever many you think she can cover all together and put the rest in the incubator.

 

[Emmaxx]

Also, mark them when you candle so you can check she's not adding any more and no-one is sneaking any in if you have other ducks. I found wax crayon worked quite well.

 

[CayugaJana]

Great advice

 

[dorothyofoz5]

From what I understand she will likely not be able to hatch all of those. You can candle some of them and put in the incubator if you want to hatch all of them. It’s likely some will be duds and you can pitch those. Do you know what you are looking at when you candle them?

I have kind of an idea what to look for but not really. What am I looking?
I was scared to touch them because I didn’t know if she would reject them if I touched them.

 

[dorothyofoz5]

Sounds a bit like my egg hoarder duck 32 eggs she had all piled on top of each other (plus a couple I took early on and put in the incubator) after building her nest on top of another and then adding to it, letting the original duck lay there too I think, not removing any that would normally be rejected. It was like a turtle nest in the sand!

Just as CayugaJana said, you need to candle all the eggs and remove any that are not developing, put back what has life in it and gauge how far along they are. Mine was left with 14 (now 13) and were all around the same stage, with a couple a few days behind. There were some that had started to develop and quit early on, which I think was down to her not being able to keep them all warm at the same time. They would get warm and develop, get cold and die. If by some luck they are all developing and incubating is a possibility I would say give her back about a dozen or how ever many you think she can cover all together and put the rest in the incubator.

Okay gotcha. Yeah she must be feeling she has too many in there because today she laid one outside.
So if I touch them she will still go back to them?

 

[dorothyofoz5]

Also, mark them when you candle so you can check she's not adding any more and no-one is sneaking any in if you have other ducks. I found wax crayon worked quite well.

Also, how exactly do I candle an egg?
And what is a good incubator? I know nothing about incubators and I don’t have a lot to spend.

 

[Emmaxx]

Also, how exactly do I candle an egg?
And what is a good incubator? I know nothing about incubators and I don’t have a lot to spend.

You need a light and preferably a dark room (or duck house). The brighter the light the better, but careful that it doesn't get too hot. I use the 'flashlight' on my phone which is basically the camera flash, I believe you can get apps too, but it does get hot. Any bright torch will work though, but it needs to either have a small circumference or you'll need to narrow the beam so that all you see is the egg and not light around it. Then you just shine the light into the fat end of each egg and should see something that looks like one of these images

They could vary a lot if she she has been adding eggs and sitting, I always understood they stopped laying if they were serious. But you are sure it couldn't have been another of your birds?

 

[dorothyofoz5]

You need a light and preferably a dark room (or duck house). The brighter the light the better, but careful that it doesn't get too hot. I use the 'flashlight' on my phone which is basically the camera flash, I believe you can get apps too, but it does get hot. Any bright torch will work though, but it needs to either have a small circumference or you'll need to narrow the beam so that all you see is the egg and not light around it. Then you just shine the light into the fat end of each egg and should see something that looks like one of these images
View attachment 1356275 They could vary a lot if she she has been adding eggs and sitting, I always understood they stopped laying if they were serious. But you are sure it couldn't have been another of your birds?

Okay great! I just got an incubator today! She seems to be serious because she is still sitting on them a lot. But yesterday she laid an egg outside on the ground, so I’m a little worried.
I only have one female and one male so it’s definitely her laying all the eggs.
I’m going to candle the eggs and put some in my incubator and leave some.
So she won’t care if I touch her eggs? She should still come back to them? I was scared to touch it because I always heard not to touch bird eggs because they won’t come back. Maybe it’s different with ducks lol.