- Jul 19, 2012
- 42
- 5
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Hi All - I have a bit of a situation and I need some advice. This past summer I purchased 4 ducklings from the feed store. 2 pekin and 2 Rouen. The 2 pekin ended up being female and the 2 Rouen ended up being Drakes. One of my pekin's passed away tragically two weeks ago. This week the pekin started laying and they are most certainly fertile. The poor thing has a gimp leg and the drakes who are very protective over her are also mating with her quite frequently. After the loss of the other pekin, I can't bare the though of losing her too. SO I was wondering about incubating the pekin's eggs. I have several reasons, one I am heart broken about the loss of the other pekin, two the other ducks are upset as well, they are definitely closer than my chickens are. When she died, and I had to take her, the drakes followed me around the yard with her and stayed by my porch all day. Three, the pekin that is left cannot handle the two drakes by herself. She has a gimp leg and limps (since birth), and 2 drakes with 1 female can't be a good idea. Does anyone have any experience with hatching ducks this time of year? I live in New Hampshire so it is getting colder outside. I have the housing to make sure they stay warm, my concern is with their outside time and pool time with the weather getting colder.