My husband and I are usually very good about picking up the eggs in the yard, but these past 2 weeks have been crazy. One of my female ducks was attacked by my new puppy...it was my faul for not make sure the pen was locked... She is ok now and has since rejoined th flock. My other female during all this madness has decided to go broody since we forgot to pick up the eggs. (She even used the feathers from the female attacked... Hey at least they went to good use) She has 10 eggs, I figured to give her a chance and see if she will actually sit this time, cause the last few time she would walk away at like day 20. I don't have an incubator, and I kind of want nature to take its course. I have sectioned her off from my other 2 ducks with an xpen and put a kiddie pool in there. I don't know the exact age of the ducklings so I don't want them to hatch and have my drake kill them. Outside temp here has been around the high 60's with a bit of a low in the 40-50's last week for a few days. I candled the eggs last night, all of them appeared fertile, they all had veins and developed air sacks, other then that it was too dark to see anything else. So I al pretty sure they are all developing. I just don't know what to do at this point. I want her to hatch them, but like I said I don't know the age, and do I leave the ducklings with her until they fully hatch or do I collect them once they started to pip.. I NEED HELP lol
Just leave them with her. If she sets for the full amount of time she will know what to do. You may or may not have a problem with the other ducks and drake. Some are fine with ducklings, some aren't. I leave my hens to do their thing. I don't even candle. After hatch, I will check any remaining eggs to see if they are just late but I let mom do her thing. If she is a first time mom, you will want to keep an eye on her to ensure she is a good mom, not all are. If you can guess as to when she started setting then you can approximate the hatch date. Do have a plan for the ducklings. I had a hen hatch a brood in December and they were fine, with a heat lamp but we were getting freezing temps. With your temps, they should be okay.
Yes I have a plan, my laundry room is big enough for a kiddie pool and heat lamp, so I will keep them in the pool with some hay (no water in it of course) and their waterer and food. I know how to Handle ducklings all of my ducks I had from ducklings at a few days old, which is why I know my two pekins hate ducklings... My male will kill a duckling if I let him he is just too rough with them. I never introduce new ducks to him until fully feathered and even then it's under supervision, once they get older he is perfect fine with them. I do have a plan... I think we will keep one female, but the rest I already have homes for. I work at a pet store and I know alot of people In the rescue community whom have all found homes for me... Thank you
