Many questions about duck eggs!

[HamandLily]

Ah yes, they can go downhill quickly if they are alone - one of my ducks was killed by a fox and left one behind - she got really depressed and lost a lotof weight but luckily I managed to get her a firnd and she's just getting back to her normal self!

Aww, I adore ducks! They're just so loving and funny to watch, especially when they have a bath - they get so excited!

As far as I know, they can be incubated at the same time in the same thng because they are kept at body temperature yes? It's the same for both ducks and chickens so I don;t see why not - I think the farm I worked at used to do it with all their poultry!

It's just that duck eggs take a week longer from what I know!

 

[AllCoop'dUp]

I have never had ducks before this past year. I have 2 Cayugas ducks and 2 Cayuga drakes and a Blue Swedish duck. All the girls are laying eggs now and I've caught the oldest one trying to hide nests all over in the woods if I let them out of the pen too early in the morning. My question is regarding duck behavior. Does the duck lay a clutch THEN go broody or does she go broody then let me put eggs under her? I've been collecting all the eggs since last October. Selling and eating them. Now I'm wondering if I should leave the eggs and let her hatch them. I made some great little nest boxes and of course they won't use them! I'm thinking of setting up a corner of the coop to mimic the woods. You know, tree branches, leaves, moss, etc. Do you think that would help entice her to keep laying them in the coop? Also...how many eggs do you think she could safely cover? I also need to keep the darn chickens from laying in her nest!

 

[karmlacres]

My duck laid in the b! Hopefully this will be the trend. The hen finally got a chance to get back in the box, so she laid sometime since last night. DH went out to see the eggs and couldn't find them. Three eggs just don't disappear! So I went out and was asking the birds where they went. They just walked around me quacking and clucking. I dug in the bedding. Nothing. Bewildered as heck, I decided to dig in the bedding some more. I found 3 duck eggs and the one chicken egg all buried! I'm taking this as a good sign that my duck has good intentions of sitting on the eggs. I was going to leave a few hen eggs with her to see what she can do with them. My hen doesn't seem to have any inclinations to sit - but she lays every day (nearly!)

I read up on Cayuga's some today. They are pretty good at sitting on their eggs until they hatch. They like to hide their eggs. So it's looking good that maybe in a month I'll have a bunch of ducklings

I went and got some pics of the ducks -someone asked for them to see if they could determine what they are crossed with. I know the original owner had Pekin but had many others too.

I'll be right back - I can't seem to just add pics to this post. Let me go figure this out.

 

[karmlacres]

I'll figure out the BYC upload later. Anyways, here's a link to pictures... http://barndoorreflections.com/minishowcase/

Once there, go to the Poultry album. You'll see the blue eggs the duck is laying which is not the typical Cayuga colored egg. I guess that really solidifies that she's not a purebred... to me, anyways. I'm duck and chicken ignorant, so feel free to set me straight!!! And I believe the drake isn't colored correctly since he doesn't have the black legs and beak. Right?

I'm going to try to stick some pics in here after all, but if it doesn't work, you can see the attempted photos and a few others at the link above.

<-- good shot of the drake and duck

<-- duck egg. It really isn't any bigger than my hen's eggs which run about grocery store large or a tad bit bigger.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
My muscovys lay anywhere from 15 - 18 eggs before they set on them. It takes them about 30 - 35 days to hatch.

 

[HamandLily]

AllCoop'dUp - Ducks typically go broody first, and my Khaki Campbell can sit on at least 10! And yes you could do, like I said, collect up the eggs you find and place them in a nest box, and let her see them, she should start to learn that she needs to lay there!

karmlacres - If my duck is going to leave her nest, she will cover up her eggs with the bedding to try and keep them safe and warm so that is a good sign indeed!

To me persoanlly, they don't look like obvious crosses, but I cant be sure - I don't think they are crossed with Pekins. Although the bill and leg colours are different so who knows - either way they are stunning birds! You've definatly got a boy and a girl! But yes, the Drake if anything possibly has been crossed.

The duck eggs look about the right size which is good! The blue colour is fantastic! I'm not sure of any other ducks that North American Aylesburies - maybe someone else could shed some light? Typically, cayugas should lay black-ish eggs so the cross is definatly intriguing!

 

[karmlacres]

I still talk to the lady who gave me the birds. Although, I crashed 2 machines in December - I will have to try to find her email address. But I could ask her again what other ducks she had at the time that they may be crossed with. Who knows, she may have started with crossed birds anyways. I know she got her starter chicks from the local feed store - maybe that is where she got her ducks too. Knowing she was told she was getting 18 straight run chicks, she ended up with 16 roods and only 2 hens! If you're going to have someone come in with picked over birds, they could lie (or be unknowledgeable, even) of what they are coming in with, possibly knowing they are selling them to someone who knows nothing (a beginnner). Chances are she really didn't care what breed she was getting - she's raising the birds for eggs.

I was estatic to find the blue egg! It's gorgeous, esp up against my hen's medium brown colored egg! Pretty! If you went to my website to see the pics, there just a glimpse of the hen. She didn't seem to want her pic taken. My roo doesn't mind, though. I think he's gorgeous. I'm pretty sure the roo and chicken are mutts, but that's ok. My hen is an awesome layer!!! An egg a day minus about 7-10 total since the beginning of October! I

her!

 

[HamandLily]

Yes I had a look at the pictures, they're all gorgeous!

Do the ducks have swimming water?

 

[karmlacres]

Not at the moment. Their water kept freezing so we put up their pool. We should be getting it back out soon as most of our bad/cold weather should be about done. We need to improve the draining mechanism, too, so we can drain it better without duck poo gunking it up. They get in the drinking water and even dip their heads in there. They topple it over and make it a filthy mess. They are some messy birds!

 

[HamandLily]

Ah bless!

Mine have a ond but at the momen they seem to favour a large plastic box that I fill up for them to drink out of - it's only just big enough for my Aylesbury to get in but she loves it!

She also loves knocking over the waterbowl by the door of their pen when she is getting excited about being let out so I get a nice filthy mess too