I have 12 or so duck eggs coming in on Monday or Tuesday. By fedex... What do I do when they arrive to get them ready to place under broody duck??? She started setting on eggs maybe a week ago.. I think she has 9.. first time ever hatching eggs
Well are you planning on hatching her eggs or just the ones your getting? I would wait for the broody gal to get off of her nest then sneak over and switch the eggs, try not to disturb the nest too much, you want it to look almost the exactly the same, or else she may get suspicious and stop setting.
I was planning on swapping the shipped eggs for the ones that weren't fertile and leaving the ones that were developing.. As I didn't think stanley was always getting the job done.. I've been able to candle a couple and those are developing.. she is on about 9 eggs.. I didn't know she would go broody so quick.. she is setting on about 5 of her own. and 3 or 4 of the welsh harlequin I put in... I don't know if she layed any more the days she was working up to going broody. she only takes a break in the morning and the evening. and its a quick one let me tell you maybe 5 minutes tops.. I'll have to see if I can time her if I'm out side when she takes a break
A couple of things.... First, let your shipped eggs sit for a few hours with the air cell up so that they can rest before being moved around under your mother duck. Unfortunately, in my experience, shipped duck eggs take air cell damage pretty easily. Secondly, if there is more than a week difference in the ages of the eggs under your broody duck, she will hatch the first ones, probably hang out for a couple of days, then leave the shipped ones. They don't usually stay on the eggs more than a few days (2 - 3) after they start hatching. Have a plan for that - not sure if removing her ducklings as they hatch would work to keep her on the nest or not. It may really upset her too. If you have an incubator, I'd be really tempted to put her eggs in the incubator and let her have the shipped eggs as the best scenario. I've never had great luck with shipped duck eggs in the incubators (I have cheap foam incubators, but have pretty good success with my own fresh eggs in them).
