JayZee1054
Hatching
- Apr 22, 2020
- 8
- 2
- 8
Hi everyone!! I am new to this site and have googled so many duck questions and always end up reading a super helpful forum here, so decided to just create my own account!! I am a first time duck owner - me and my husband inherited them from friends when they were around 9 months old. We were off to a good start the first month however unfortunately we lost most of them to a neighborhood bobcat 
... now they are not free range and we only let them out of their coop when we or the dog is outside. We still have 2, one male ruen and one female Peking. The female has been an amazing layer. About 2 months ago, I noticed she was grabbing hay in the coop and making a nest. I let the eggs be for a while but she wasn’t laying on them so I took them all away and let her start fresh and started labeling them w the date. She starting laying on them about a month ago - I noticed when she wouldn’t even come out for some swim time which was super unusual! This got me excited, but then after 2 weeks she started kicking some eggs out and not laying on them enough. Today I decided to take the rest again and start fresh.. I cracked a couple and they were certainly ROTTEN and no sign of fertilization. I am a little worried our drake is too small for her... every time they go to swim he mounts her but it doesn’t ever seem very successful.. lol. She is a huge Peking... could this be a problem?? I attached a picture. She seems broody since she was incubating them at one point I just don’t think any eggs are duckling ready. I am trying to give her another month but then spring mating season is ending so then I would just buy some at tractor supply - I assume we have to raise them for the first month at least then right? She won’t take them as her own?? I have heard they can be violent against them so trying to be save. Really want her to hatch her own but I just don’t know what to do / how to tell and i feel like we are running out of time this year!! Any advice you have would be wonderful!! I don’t know what I’m doing !! Oh and I’ve never had chickens either, so a comparison there isn’t helpful haha. Thanks in advance for any responses!!
... now they are not free range and we only let them out of their coop when we or the dog is outside. We still have 2, one male ruen and one female Peking. The female has been an amazing layer. About 2 months ago, I noticed she was grabbing hay in the coop and making a nest. I let the eggs be for a while but she wasn’t laying on them so I took them all away and let her start fresh and started labeling them w the date. She starting laying on them about a month ago - I noticed when she wouldn’t even come out for some swim time which was super unusual! This got me excited, but then after 2 weeks she started kicking some eggs out and not laying on them enough. Today I decided to take the rest again and start fresh.. I cracked a couple and they were certainly ROTTEN and no sign of fertilization. I am a little worried our drake is too small for her... every time they go to swim he mounts her but it doesn’t ever seem very successful.. lol. She is a huge Peking... could this be a problem?? I attached a picture. She seems broody since she was incubating them at one point I just don’t think any eggs are duckling ready. I am trying to give her another month but then spring mating season is ending so then I would just buy some at tractor supply - I assume we have to raise them for the first month at least then right? She won’t take them as her own?? I have heard they can be violent against them so trying to be save. Really want her to hatch her own but I just don’t know what to do / how to tell and i feel like we are running out of time this year!! Any advice you have would be wonderful!! I don’t know what I’m doing !! Oh and I’ve never had chickens either, so a comparison there isn’t helpful haha. Thanks in advance for any responses!!
