New to Duck Breeding - please help with some silly questions

[HollieOlson]

I have two 11 mo old male Black East Indies, one 6 mo old female Black Swedish and one 6 mo old female Cayuga, I am on the lookout for more females for my drakes, but want Black East Indies, the girls are a little big for the boys. So I am not sure if any "make babies time" is even happening seems like the one boy is having trouble trying to mate with the female. She looks simply to big for him. However, we have cracked eggs here and there and believe the most recent one is fertile. There seems to be an outer ring around the white spot on the yolk. Both females are laying an egg a day. They have private nesting boxes and their duck house so I am set with that. We even built a separate pen to use for whatever we need in case they have to be separated.

There was two regular eggs and one little dark egg from the same morning in one box and that's the last time I picked them all up. Today there was one egg in each box.

So on to my silly newbie questions. Sorry! Tried google but just can't word it in a way that pulls up what I am trying to find out.

1- Do they successfully mate ONE time to fertilize a whole batch of eggs?

2- If they don't start laying on a nest until they build up to at least 7 or so eggs - how can the first laid eggs survive? Won't those ducklings just die from being the first ones laid and then not sat on?

3- To get her to sit sooner, should I warm up some of the eggs in the fridge just to make a pile out there? Like how you use fake chicken eggs to show them where to nest.

4- The one boy only seems to like the one female, I have seen nothing from the other boy or girl at all. Normal?

5- How many clutches per year should I expect?


THANKS TO EVERYONE you reads this and for your help.

Here is a 1 min video of what we call swimmy time - he boys are right in there the girls tend to waddle around the sides for a bit but they swim too. Just ordered a bigger pool as well. The little wooden "decks" get flipped over a lot so all the poultry can run to get worms.

Hollie & Chris

 

[sourland]

1) One mating can generally provide enough sperm to fertilize 2 weeks worth of eggs (at a minimum).

2) The eggs basically go into an 'arrested' state until they are incubated. Very few birds start incubating as soon as the first egg is laid.

3) They will go broody when their hormones tell them to do so. Some strains have lost the broody instinct.

4) It's not at all unusual for a male and female to develop strong pair bonds. Generally such males will 'cheat' once their mate goes broody.

5) In my experience one or two clutches is generally what most ducks will lay and brood.

Good luck, and hopefully your hens will go broody.

 

[Speceider]

Ducks lay a clutch, after about 5-6 eggs, the female will start staying on the nest longer , and start pulling down. She will continue staying in the near longer and longer until the last egg is laid, when she will stay on all the time. At that time the first few eggs are a couple of days developed. The last eggs accelerate development so they hatch at the same time. Heating the eggs will mess with the development times. Inexplilation can fertilize several eggs.

Clint

 

[HollieOlson]

Thank you! Good answers I appreciate both of you taking the time.