Pekin hatching her own eggs

[ducklucky]

Okay, guys, haven't been on in a while, but need your help with this. I did post on the Maine site as that's where I am, but will do so here also.

I have a Pekin who has been setting on about 15 eggs for about 3 weeks, maybe more. When she first started I didn't pay much attention, figuring she would grow bored with it soon enough, but she did not, and let nature take its course.
Candled most of them over the past 2 days, and they all appear viable. Some movement, some have eyes looking back at me, some are almost full with just a little quiver here and there. So different ages, probably a week apart from the most mature to the least. She lives on the screened porch with her husband and four other wives. She is very possessive about her beautifully woven and immaculate nest and gorgeous clean and well tended eggs. She becomes a raving banshee if I am out there tending to the others. She has even flown at my head, and walks around all fluffed and screeching in the attack position. She will leave the nest for a short time when I put them out every afternoon, but she'd better not catch me in there, she comes a runnin' screaming her head off. So now that I know they are viable, will leave them alone.

My questions, should I move her in at this point and separate her from the rest? They don't bother her or the eggs and seem to be protective of her, kind of pacing, like a waiting room. Rather funny...
Someone suggested if I could cordon off her space and leave her be. I could maybe do that, won't give her much room but I can let her out with the rest every day. Has anyone experienced this, know it is rare for a Pekin to do this to hatch, but she is a determined wench, and I really think she is going to. I'm afraid if I move her and the nest indoors at this point she will freak out and forget the whole thing. They are a very tight group, and what Papa says, goes, no questions asked. They follow his rule like little puppies. Will she let me know when they start to hatch, i.e., any signs in behavior or anything? I've let chickens hatch and they did just fine, but I had separated them from the rest.
Any suggestions? And if the eggs are that far apart in maturity, will she continue to tend to them after the first one or two hatch? I expect it will take several days, maybe even close to a week for all to hatch. What do you all think? Thanks for any help.

 

[sourland]

I would be very reluctant to move her as it might cause her broodiness to break. The problem with staggered hatches is that generally within 24 to 48 hours of the first duckling/chick hatching the mother leaves the nest to find food and water for herself and her brood - it's how they are programed for survival. Is it possible to borrow an incubator for the later eggs? Sometimes removing the ducklings (out of both sight and sound) immediately after hatching will extend the time that the hen will continue to brood. Given the protective nature of your duck, I doubt that this will work. Good luck at working things out - I hate staggered hatches as they generally lead to the loss of viable eggs.

 

[ducklucky]

I had written yesterday about my Pekin setting on a big clutch. I'm sorry I took up everyone's time with the long story, but now I will make a long story short.

The most bizarre thing happened right after I posted that. She had been setting all that morning and joined the others at the other end of the pen in the afternoon and never went back all day. The kind of all sat around in a circle, talking amongst themselves. Late in the afternoon, I watched as the came back into the nest area. She laid down in front of the nest for a minute, the others around her, and then reached in and rolled out an egg. The others attached it and carried it off and ate it. All I could see was yolk, so it had probably died a long time ago. It was the most brutal thing I've ever seen. I went right out and shooed them away from the nest, I feared they would do it all the eggs. She didn't care and didn't raise a fuss at all as I removed all the eggs.

Candled them all, they were very cold. 6 were viable, still moving, so I warmed them up wrapped in my sweatshirt on my belly with a heating pad. We wrapped them in a nice soft warm blanket and put them on a heating pad in a small box to retain heat. Candled them again and they were moving all over the place. Look to be about 15-20 days, and seemed happy and warm.

As for the ducks, they all gathered around the box where the eggs were, but I was so disgusted with her at the time I couldn't even feel sorry for her. Those eggs were so cold thought for sure they were all gone, was quite cold yesterday.

So oh well, so much for Pekins going to term with their own eggs. Guess she just got tired of the whole thing and wanted to party with gang instead. Thanks for your help tho, will let you all know how it goes.

 

[Amiga]

Wow. Thanks for sharing that story. I often don't reply to posts about broodies, because I have absolutely no direct experience. We have not let our broody girls sit on live eggs, because we have enough ducks right now (yes there is room for a couple more, but I like to keep that room available for emergencies).

Anyway, I hear again and again how you don't know what kind of mother a duck will be. Apparently there are degrees of broody. I have seen that here - Romy will want to sit, but only for half a day, and only for a few days at a time. Fünf will sit for five weeks, solid.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Can you get an icubator, borrow from someone? the eggs need a set humidity you can spritz them with water a coulple times daily but when lock down comes the humidity needs to be constant, and you'll need to turn them a couple times a day also when you spray them with warm water. until lock down. So sorry mama gave up.

 

[lc123]

I have a pekin duck that started laying eggs about 3 weeks ago. Since we don't have a drake at this time I have collected all of them up to this point. However, I am purchasing a drake next week and would like to see if she'd hatch the eggs. Right now she likes to lay her eggs in the small creek that flows through part of her enclosure. Is there anything I can do to encourage her to nest?

 

[2colegroves]

I lost one of my females yesterday, the drake and his 4 females always go on adventures together, over to the creek and back all day long, Mitzi was gone I searched up and down the creek, that evening I gave up and went to take the ducks for there evening feed and put them up in the kennel for safety over night, and there was Mitzi, laying on some eggs, she is a Pekin and never NEVER have I seen a Pekin lay on eggs for long, I went out awhile ago and there are all my ducks except Mitzi again............went over to the kennel and there she is laying on those eggs. So my question is, has anyone ever seen a Pekin hatch out her own eggs? I don't really want more babies, my drake HATES baby ducks. Actually he is acting weird also. Chasing my husband and biting him for the past week. He used to do that over a year ago when I only had him and Daisy. Poor Daisy, she got so tired of him jumping on her back that she would hide from him. I inserted a pic of Daisy hiding, see her above Howey's head?

 

[sjohns20680]

OMG! That is too funny seeing her hiding. I got 4 pekings from a woman because she had been given a pair 2 years ago. The pair turned into 30+...and they did it all on their own.

 

[ducklover87]

Pekins are difficult when it comes to nesting. Some are good incubators but once the babies hatch they are horrible mothers, or they could sit for a bit then get bored and leave half developed eggs behind, or they are great all the way through. It depends on the duck. If you don't want babies just take them away. Sounds like your drake is protecting his ladies. Maybe with your duck nesting he's gotten more protective. I know one of my drakes has it out for my dog. My dog pays no attention to my ducks which makes it funnier. I've tried everything to get him to leave the dog alone but he won't. I tried chasing him away, spraying him with the hose, and calling m dog close to me to help keep the drake away but nope he is very persistent. He chases my dog all over the yard and if he's running my drake will flap his wings to scoot along the ground faster. I've also seen the drake run into him because the dog stopped lol. Its a fairly new behavior and I collect eggs daily so no one is sitting he's just a weird drake. Although his name e is goose so maybe has something to do with it lol.

 

[ducklucky]

As far as Pekins sitting to fruition, don't count on it. Mine did for almost 3 weeks and decided to call the rest of the flock +in for a massacre as she rolled the eggs out to them to devour. Managed to save a few, but they did not survive incubating. It was a horrible thing to see, but they conspired together to do it, think she was just bored with the whole thing and gathered the gang together for it. Was definitely a flock effort, all of them were in on it.

You might want to separate her from the rest and see if she keeps the interest, but the flock is a strong call, if they are a tight group, that calling may be stronger than her broodiness. You never want to witness what I did, was horrible carnage. Whether she holds interest or not is up to her, but would not count on it. They are much more interested this time of year to getting out and about, and seeing their buddies out there having a good time in the grass is overwhelming. Hey, wouldn't you feel the same way?

As far as the aggressive drake, nip that in the bud, and now. Yeah, may be funny, but let me tell you, a drake can put a hurting on you big time, and your dog too. Your hub needs to raise up his arms when that drake comes at him before it gets to him and charge back. After a few times, it will make the drake think twice, but it will take quite a few times of being counter aggressive, and always watch your back. They will try a sneak attack when you least expect it. My drake is going thru this as well, almost bit my big toe off, and no more. Yell, scream, flap your arms and charge back. You need to let him know who is boss. Mine pretty much has it now, but once in a while the girls will egg him on to come after me, and he will to show off. NOT!!! Nip it now if you don't want him to end up on the dinner table.