Old fashioned Broody Thread for Ducks

[Ancona Mom]

I finally got a count yesterday. She is setting 8 eggs. She is on day 3 of pretty continuous setting. I am hoping to attempt candling this weekend if she will let me. It has been kinda cool and rainy here in VA this week. I'll post a picture of her later if possible.

 

[EmilyP]

I finally got a count yesterday. She is setting 8 eggs. She is on day 3 of pretty continuous setting. I am hoping to attempt candling this weekend if she will let me. It has been kinda cool and rainy here in VA this week. I'll post a picture of her later if possible.

Start your count then!!! Pay attention to if she lays more eggs tho... This will get you at least within a few days of a hatch!! Good luck!

 

[Ancona Mom]

Thanks. I'm so eggcited!!!

 

[LeiaLayers5]

This may not be the right board, but we had a chicken go broody and refused to kick the habit, so we decided that if she was determined, we would let her sit on the only fertilized eggs we had, some duck eggs. We gave her three and she has had them since the last week of March underneath her. From what we can tell, she has consistently sat on them and whenever she is not, she has "arranged" for her sister to "babysit" while she dust baths and gets out for a hour ever so often. We have heard it takes 28 days to incubate duck eggs. Should we be worried about what she will do closer to the hatching time being that she is a chicken and they are baby ducks? This is the first time we are trying this since she would not give up her broody behavior. We have not tried to intercede so far and just let her sit on them.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Hopefully she'll stay the course. I had a hen lose her first clutch of eggs at close to hatch so I gave her more and she sat another 21 days so I don't think they really count how many days they are on the nest. So hopefully your hen will stick it out. She'll love those ducklings just like they are chicks and them her.

@LeiaLayers5

 

[LeiaLayers5]

Hopefully she'll stay the course. I had a hen lose her first clutch of eggs at close to hatch so I gave her more and she sat another 21 days so I don't think they really count how many days they are on the nest. So hopefully your hen will stick it out. She'll love those ducklings just like they are chicks and them her.

@LeiaLayers5

Are there any ways to check eggs to see what the progress is?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Are there any ways to check eggs to see what the progress is?

Candle candle candle I love to candle after day 4-5 you can see veining it is so cool. @LeiaLayers5

 

[LeiaLayers5]

Quote: If I have my days right, going by the 28 days, they should be hitting that beginning of next week. Is it still ok to candle this late in game and what is the best method? I tried looking with strong flashlight but it was not effective.

 

[Miss Lydia]

If I have my days right, going by the 28 days, they should be hitting that beginning of next week. Is it still ok to candle this late in game and what is the best method? I tried looking with strong flashlight but it was not effective.

I candle right up to a few days from hatch about every other day. I use a slim LED flash light going in my feed room which is dark with out light on. Put it at fat end. Do you have the chart that shows progression of eggs?

Oh and I like the names the names of your flock Scully and Mulder we're big X files fans. lol

 

[LeiaLayers5]

Thanks, we are X-Files fans too. We name all ours after shows and things we like, I mostly name them, because my DH has weird ideas about how to name them. All our ducks are named after Star Wars theme. I do not have chart but I guess I could search for one online. This is really the first time we tried this and I admit, we were not sure she would actually stick with it the full time, but we have been curious about trying to hatch. If they do hatch, it will be a mallard drake/ khaki-rouen mix cross. I hope it works out, because I would love to see what they would look like, but we just got 3 ducklings, so my DH is like whoa that will be alot of ducks haha.