I am such a softee !!!

[wingstone]

My granddaughter (5 years old) wants call ducks, and by golly she will get them, I have ordered eggs from 4 different places totaling 42 eggs....gonna need every bit of help I can get, have never incubated ducks before......rearranging chicken eggs so that the ducks have their own incubator......

 

[Diamond88]

How exciting! What color calls did you order? I just hatched my first call duckling today (two more still in the incubator

) and it's been so fun! Your granddaughter will be thrilled! She's a lucky little girl.

 

[wingstone]

should be lots of colors if I can hatch any....it would be great if i can time them to hatch when the kids are here..if i hatch to many I will have to put up a big for sale sign...forty some eggs could make for a lot of duckies......but being realistic these are ebay eggs so if i get a couple to hatch I am doing good...I encourage all of the grandkids to be involved in the farm, so I try to keep animals that they want to see and take care of....she has been fasinated with ducks since she was 2, I wanted runner ducks and she wants the call ducks...

 

[wingstone]

Come on I need duck people to chime in here,,,,,Am I doing the right thing with rearranging chicken eggs and cleaning the incubator so that the ducks can have their own incubator, and how much higher should I have the humidity, in my house it naturally can run in the 50's even without water.45 is normal and will jump in the 50's if it is a rainy day.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Tackling call duck eggs as your first duck egg is daunting. Call ducks are extremely hard to hatch successfully when the eggs are laid in your own back yard. Their tiny bills make it very hard for them to make it out. Shipping is hard on any eggs for hatching, but seems even more so rough on the tiny and fragile call duck eggs. I wouldn't get the granddaughter too excited about the eggs this early on. If you haven't told her yet, you may think about not telling her at all. At 5 she won't understand why none hatch (yes this is a strong possibility). I wish you the best of luck, but want you to know from the beginning that call ducks who actually meet the breed description and are tiny with cute little bills are hard to hatch even for those who have dozens of pairs of breeders. Sport calls or low quality pet call ducks hatch better because they have the large bill.

Fall will have a number of call ducks listed available to buy, keep this in mind as well since you would be buying a juvenile live bird that the grand daughter could enjoy.

Call duck hens are very VeRY loud, and they can fly pretty darn well too. (both genders)

Good luck with your hatch, please keep posting as time goes on.

 

[wingstone]

Both I and my granddaughter are aware that call ducks are hard to hatch, but we will go looking to buy some adults if we can not get any to hatch.....This hatch will not be set and forget will have to keep an eye on it...And being ebay eggs I only expect pet quality no matter what the ad might say.......Noise is not a problem my closest neighbor is a mile away and hard of hearing...And I am one of them that likes to hear rooster at 5 am...I do have to clip wings on a few of my chickens and only do this for safety sake....They have a large run of approximately 2 acres but sometimes still want to be on the other side....I am sure i will be asking lots of housing questions also..I do not have a pond but could easily fill pools as long as the weather is not freezing..Feed I am not sure of I feed flock raiser to all my birds, I believe that it is 20% protein....I also have a pen of quail that eat game bird chow, so if I need to work with a 3rd feed it shouldn't be a problem....Am I forgetting anything, I would like to be prepared....

 

[country_girl011]

flock raiser is fine. i feed this mixed with corn. oats . and a little bit of sweet feed (i simply mix to make feed go further.

but flock raiser is fine.

feed chick starter until 3 weeks old then transition over to something with lower protein.

yes calls are very hard to hatch but very worth while.
so far this year i have had 8 hatches. totaling around 50-60 ducklings (all calls)
i have had to help every hatch .
but id rather assist than have dead babies.

 

[wingstone]

Thank you ...I have wrote all that down in my duck notebook I started keeping,,,,I will be scheduling a little vacation time off of work to be home during hatch..(hopefully)...

 

[country_girl011]

keep us all updated as time goes by .
and theres are a few of us on here (including me)
who can help you if you have any problems. and if need be will walk you thru an assisted hatch. (its not soo bad after the first 1 or 3. after that its easy )

 

[wingstone]

I have questions already,,,,,,Do I let eggs rest and how long,,,,and my normal set up is....I do not use the water trays I tape maxi pads in various places and add water to them, will this work with ducks or should I use the water channels., I can hold humidity of 55 without any water should i keep it any higher,because my house is normally humid I find myself trying to take humidity out.............Thanks and you guys are great about helping newbies try something different.