Managing ducks while 1 is broody?

[nao57]

Thanks for the comments.

Just an update...

She's still broody nothing hatched yet.

But, its interesting when she gets up to go get water and food I'll look over at the nest. She's covered it so thoroughly with her down, feathers, and whatever is available you can almost not see it. It looks interesting. I'll ...dang I should have gotten a pic.

 

[Luv Ducks]

Thanks for the comments.

Just an update...

She's still broody nothing hatched yet.

But, its interesting when she gets up to go get water and food I'll look over at the nest. She's covered it so thoroughly with her down, feathers, and whatever is available you can almost not see it. It looks interesting. I'll ...dang I should have gotten a pic.

Yes they keep them well covered so that they do not get cold or chilled when they get up and so that they are hidden. I hope everything works out well for you. I kept my one batch separate after the Hen left them at three weeks all together. It was still cold out but they huddled together in my covered pet gazebo and did just fine. When they were fully feathered I let them join the others. They had been able to see each other since day one and there were no problems whatsoever. If you put them together too young the older ones may attack them and kill them. Good Luck and keep us posted.

 

[nao57]

So I'm wondering what to think about this... its been about 30 days today. Not hatched.

But I'm not sure if I should count the first day or two since she was kind of still figuring out that she was broody and not as consistent on those couple of days? And for overdue late eggs, how much extra time do you give them?

If they end up at the point where they don't hatch, what do you do for the hen that couldn't get babies?

 

[Luv Ducks]

I would let her still sit for another week. Sometimes temperatures out can affect the hatch dates. When my one Hen was separated from her mate because he killed one of the babies and I let her go to him because she decided to quit sitting on the eggs, she was fine with no babies. I brought four of the eggs that looked promising because they were dark and made a homemade incubator and two of them hatched out over a week later. These eggs had been in that nest for at least 40 days! She was not sitting on all of them all the time though and would shift from one end of the nest to the other as there were several eggs in the nest from several different hens. They all decided to use one nest. I thought there was no way they could hatch but two actually did and I was shocked. They had been cold several hours so I figured they were all dead but wanted to try it anyways. I hope something hatches soon. Good Luck and you are most welcome for the comments.

 

[nao57]

I would let her still sit for another week. Sometimes temperatures out can affect the hatch dates. When my one Hen was separated from her mate because he killed one of the babies and I let her go to him because she decided to quit sitting on the eggs, she was fine with no babies. I brought four of the eggs that looked promising because they were dark and made a homemade incubator and two of them hatched out over a week later. These eggs had been in that nest for at least 40 days! She was not sitting on all of them all the time though and would shift from one end of the nest to the other as there were several eggs in the nest from several different hens. They all decided to use one nest. I thought there was no way they could hatch but two actually did and I was shocked. They had been cold several hours so I figured they were all dead but wanted to try it anyways. I hope something hatches soon. Good Luck and you are most welcome for the comments.

Wow! That's amazing!

I feel so glad I asked. Your answer shows that there's really more to this than I thought. And without your answer I would have made mistakes.

 

[Luv Ducks]

Wow! That's amazing!

I feel so glad I asked. Your answer shows that there's really more to this than I thought. And without your answer I would have made mistakes.

Also I just hatched out one this morning that was from two fertile duck eggs in my back yard from my ducks. They were in a home made incubator that consisted of a $2.00 styro foam cooler, two wash cloths in the bottom to line it, a full coffee cup of water, a light with a 40 watt bulb that was a clamp on bedside reading light, a four dollar temperature guage that sat in one corner. I turned the eggs faithfully during the first 7 days about 7 times each, then went to 4 times. Kept the coffee cup full of water, stopped turning them the last four days before hatch date and sure enough one actually hatched out today and the other one is trying to now. I guess so much for expensive incubators when I am able to hatch some out this way. I adjusted the lid on the cooler to make the temperature stay right around 100 degrees. Near hatch time it got around 95 by adjusting the lid. I added a damp paper towel the last four days to bring up the humidity but I have no ideal what it actually was. Good luck with yours.