My Ducks Are Trying To Hatch Babies

[ColleenRyan]

Hi!

My two female ducks lay on their eggs all day. One in particular lays on them much more than the other female and they become frantic when I try to check the eggs out. I candled an egg tonight outside from their hutch when it was dark and I saw some eggs were completely dark with the air sac intact, some looked like they weren't fertilized and one had the red dot and the veins like in the early stages of incubation.

I did incubate my ducks myself and hatched 6. I've never had one of my ducks take charge themselves and I can't bring myself to take her eggs away from her, she loves them so much. I'm just unsure about how often I can check them out / if the darker eggs are just more developed or if they've died. I'm not even sure how long some of the eggs have been laid on because when she became "broody" I stopped collecting her eggs because it was visibly upsetting her. I just didn't think she'd be able to hatch any ducklings on her own. I think I may be wrong.

Have any of you ever had success with your ducks hatching their own ducklings? I feel like one day I might wake up to ducklings having been hatched and I want to make sure I'm there to get them inside and safe under a heat lamp if thats the case. I don't want to touch them too much. The male ducks are also very protective of their girls and the eggs and they get upset with me when I candle them also.

Any stories or suggestions would be very appreciated!!

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Mother nature built the ducks to hatch ducklings long before we humans have been around, so she is the most qualified being to care for the eggs. As long as she stays broody i would just let her do her thing. Instincts will tell her how to sit on the eggs, when it is time to turn them, which eggs are bad and must be discarded.
If she and the male are protective i would not dare to disturb them and stop candling the eggs. Just have an eye on them in case the broodiness stops prematurely.

 

[ColleenRyan]

Mother nature built the ducks to hatch ducklings long before we humans have been around, so she is the most qualified being to care for the eggs. As long as she stays broody i would just let her do her thing. Instincts will tell her how to sit on the eggs, when it is time to turn them, which eggs are bad and must be discarded.
If she and the male are protective i would not dare to disturb them and stop candling the eggs. Just have an eye on them in case the broodiness stops prematurely.

Thanks so much. I wasn’t planning on letting them keep the eggs because they’re siblings and I’m a little worried about birth defects but I did some research and read that those things are more likely to occur after lots of generations of siblings mating? Do you know anything about that? I just want to make sure if she’s going to be possibly hatching ducklings that they’ll be ok. She’s vehement about sitting on them though.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I know almost nothing about genetic defects caused by inbreeding. What i know is that introducing "fresh blood" to an established flock from time to time is a good thing and keeps the genes healthier.

 

[sourland]

Poultry handle inbreeding far better than most mammals so that should cause no problems. I'd leave them alone and let them complete the process. Understand that when the older eggs hatch the hens may leave the nest with the ducklings. If you want to hatch the remaining eggs you will need an incubator. Keep an eye on the drake. Most are fine, but some will become aggressive with ducklings. Let the mothers raise the ducklings - it's far easier.