Hatching Question

mamaof2wi

Songster
6 Years
May 11, 2016
381
125
181
West Central Wisconsin
One of our ducks has decided to lay eggs in our yard instead of her house. This is a 3 part question :)

Do they have to sit on them all day in order to hatch? She keeps adding to the pile and does not sit on them very much at all.

She is just a year old (Drake is also a year old), is this to young to hatch eggs?

How long can they be out in the yard and still safe to eat?

Thanks!
 
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She won't brood the eggs until she has completed a clutch. Not all breeds will brood and hatch eggs. Setting out in the open she is vulnerable to predators.
 
They sit on them most of the time for 28 days but do get off briefly for 15-30 minutes to eat, exercise, and do other essentials away from the nest. If she's old enough to lay them she's old enough to hatch them. But just because she lays a lot of eggs in the same nest doesn't mean she's going to set. If she doesn't start to set the eggs won't go bad any faster in the nest than they would sitting on your counter. But if she does start to set, the fertile eggs will start to develop within 3 days to the point where even though you can eat them you probably won't want to. The ones that aren't fertile will age normally, but it will probably be six or seven days before the others have developed enough for you to tell them apart. If you don't want her to eat or hatch them (or you don't have a drake) you can take them away, scramble them, let them cool, chop them fine, and feed them to the ducks. If you want to eat them just crack them individually onto a saucer and discard any that look questionable. I wouldn't recommend selling or giving them away unless you know when they were laid and can provide full disclosure.
 
They sit on them most of the time for 28 days but do get off briefly for 15-30 minutes to eat, exercise, and do other essentials away from the nest. If she's old enough to lay them she's old enough to hatch them. But just because she lays a lot of eggs in the same nest doesn't mean she's going to set. If she doesn't start to set the eggs won't go bad any faster in the nest than they would sitting on your counter. But if she does start to set, the fertile eggs will start to develop within 3 days to the point where even though you can eat them you probably won't want to. The ones that aren't fertile will age normally, but it will probably be six or seven days before the others have developed enough for you to tell them apart. If you don't want her to eat or hatch them (or you don't have a drake) you can take them away, scramble them, let them cool, chop them fine, and feed them to the ducks. If you want to eat them just crack them individually onto a saucer and discard any that look questionable. I wouldn't recommend selling or giving them away unless you know when they were laid and can provide full disclosure.
I do have a drake and would be fine if she did hatch them. Being I put her away at night and she will not be sitting on them, would they still hatch just sitting on them during the day?
 
I do have a drake and would be fine if she did hatch them. Being I put her away at night and she will not be sitting on them, would they still hatch just sitting on them during the day?
Leaving the eggs seperate from her at night has two problems. They are vulnerable to predators and will probably get eaten. Also, they will cool too much overnight and either won't develop or will die before hatching.

If I were in your situation I'd collect the eggs. Set them on the counter, unwashed, where the won't be disturbed. When you have 8-10 of them, build a nest in the corner of your duck house. Nothing elaborate just some hay or straw on the floor with a depression in the center to keep the eggs from rolling away. Put a small pencil mark on each egg then leave them in your nest. Gather any new eggs laid until somebody starts sitting on the eggs. If it goes a week and no one sits on them it probably means your duck was interested in laying away from everyone, but probably not in hatching eggs. Ducks lay lots of eggs, but in my experience that's because they seldom take time out to hatch them.

If you want to incubate some, incubators for a small number of eggs are fairly inexpensive and easy to operate. Or there are DIY incubator builds if you want to go that route. But if you incubate them you'll probably need to brood them too. Your ducks probably won't be very interested in them until they're seven or eight weeks old.
 
If I were in your situation I'd collect the eggs. Set them on the counter, unwashed, where the won't be disturbed. When you have 8-10 of them, build a nest in the corner of your duck house. Nothing elaborate just some hay or straw on the floor with a depression in the center to keep the eggs from rolling away. Put a small pencil mark on each egg then leave them in your nest. Gather any new eggs laid until somebody starts sitting on the eggs. If it goes a week and no one sits on them it probably means your duck was interested in laying away from everyone, but probably not in hatching eggs. Ducks lay lots of eggs, but in my experience that's because they seldom take time out to hatch them.

If you want to incubate some, incubators for a small number of eggs are fairly inexpensive and easy to operate. Or there are DIY incubator builds if you want to go that route. But if you incubate them you'll probably need to brood them too. Your ducks probably won't be very interested in them until they're seven or eight weeks old.
You have been SO helpful. Thank you!!!
 
Very good information above!!

I'd like to add one more thing. If you do allow your duck to hatch ducklings or you incubate them yourself you might want to consider having a plan for the little drakes once they reach sexual maturity.
 

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