New to raising Peking Ducks and need advise.

[Omikse]

So just a little back story. II live in the Pacific Northwest. My neighbors had a couple of Peking Ducks that used to come over to our house all the time because of the bird seed my wife puts out for the birds. One day she found an egg so we decided to try and hatch it. So we bought a not so cheap incubator but cheaply made (made of Styrofoam) but unfortunately it did not make it. We let our neighbors know about what happened and a couple of weeks later they showed up with a small bucket of eggs (23 in all). So we put them in the incubator and here we are 28 days later we have piping with chirping as well. Also to mention this, we are down to 17 eggs. So this where I start my question. First off, since they are piping, how long can it take for the whole hatching process? The reason I ask this is they may do this in the middle of the night when every one is sleeping so I do not want to wake up in the morning to find a dead chick/s that hatched but died because we did not take it/them out of the incubator soon enough. Second in relation to the first question how soon can we move them to the makeshift brooder we have or how long can we wait to move them? Last question I have because it is getting late here and I need to go to bed, When it comes to Pens, I am going to turn my back porch into a duck pen for temporary measure until we can find homes for most of them. Now being close to winter I plan on putting plastic all around my porch with a layer of Styrofoam and cardboard as walls to try and keep the ducks warm. The Styrofoam I can get at work as part of my job and it would be layered in the middle of the plastic and cardboard so the ducks don't peck at the Styrofoam. The part I plan to section off is about 5 feet wide 20 feet long at about 100 square feet. Based on what I have read I need 2 square feet per duck so 17x2=34 square feet. Would I be able to do this since it is close to winter time and if I can what would be a good heat source to heat that volume of area? Now that those questions are asked. I am off to bed. More question to come as they grow up.

 

[Ravynscroft]

Ducklings take what feels like forever to hatch, usually... rule of thumb is 24hrs from internal pip to external pip, 24hrs from external pip to zipping... and zipping should only take an hour max til hatch... you can wait til they are all hatched to move them to the brooder, or move them as they hatch, your choice...

Be careful with styrofoam and cardboard both... ducks have an unhealthy fascination with eating styrofoam and will find a way to get to it... they are very, very messy with water, so cardboard is best avoided... it gets soggy fast, plus ducks will pick at it and eat it too...

Plan for at least twice as much room as you think you need, if not more... the more space they have, the slower they will muck it up... smaller space means wet bedding fast once they get on their feet...

 

[CarleeAnn]

I’m not too familiar with ducks in the cold (Live in Louisiana) but from what I’ve read on here ducks are pretty cold hardy- now you’re dealing with ducklings so for sure while they are in their brooder provide a heat lamp. When they get old enough to stay “outside” you could do a clear wrap and then move the cardboard to the side the wind blows.... Someone else may be able to clarify or help more, sounds like a pretty good setup though! I don’t know if I would even use styrofoam at all.

 

[Omikse]

So now I need quick advise before I intervene. After going to bed last night I woke up to use the restroom in the middle of the night. During this time I went in to check on the progress of the hatching and found that a piece of the shell had fallen off but the membrane has yet to be broken. I went back to sleep and when I woke up this morning (5:15 a.m. PST (Pacific Standard Time)) and the membrane is still not broken. Is this normal or is it something I should intervene and help. Also Unrelated to that egg, another egg is piping but there is some discoloration around the area of piping. Again, is this normal or again should I intervene? Please if some one could answer as quick as possible so I can make sure everything is running smoothly.

 

[Ravynscroft]

Those are all normal... membrane may not look like it is broken through, but they make a small slit in it...

 

[Omikse]

Thanks for the advise Ravynscroft

. You were right on. So far everything id going ok. I tried to upload a pic of 2 that were hatched before I got home from work but it won't upload

 

[Ravynscroft]

Glad to hear 2 are out!

Might want to unwrap that wet paper towel from the egg though... wet paper towels will actually chill them if against the egg...

 

[Omikse]

They are inside the incubator and the lid is on. I just took it off so I could take a picture. Would that make a difference.

 

[Ravynscroft]

No, wet paper towels against any egg in a bator tends to chill... best to keep the paper towel in the bator, but not touching...

 

[Omikse]

Well to give you all an update as to what's going on. We are up to 6 Hatched at the moment but we should have had more. Unfortunately we have lost a couple after hatching and some just before hatching. I feel sad because one day the were tapping in the egg and the next no more. I am hesitant to crack an egg at this point because we did one that had stopped and after several hours, we poke a small hole in it. It was still alive but very underdeveloped. We still have a couple that are still tapping so we will keep you updated .