Possibly a white campbell - but what to do with the eggs

[cheesy]

Hi there,

I'm new to the way of non wild duck egg laying and wondered what to do.

We have a pair of white male runners and last year we homed a duckling from a rescue center that turned out to be a female of a similar breed that I believe is a white campbell. Initially we thought it might be an aylesbury but the adult size isn't as large as they appear to be from what I've seen online. She's plumper and less upright than the runners and looks spot on when doing an image search for white campbells

That said, they've recently been mating and for the last 5 days an egg has been produced on the floating island I built for them. I'm very familiar with the way that mallards go about building and adding to their nests and this duck hasn't built a nest - but an egg was laid in the corner of the island. I placed some straw around it assuming it wanted that as the island is bare of things to build a nest. The next day another egg was made but a few inches away from the other egg, and this has continued. This mornings is about 2 feet away from the 4 I've gathered together in the straw.

Clearly these eggs are fertilised as I've seen what they've been up to but I've read that some domesticated breeds don't sit on their own eggs and so they won't be incubated without a brooding hen. So my question is - Should I be treating this bird as an egg laying duck and collect the eggs on a daily basis for our own use or will she get to the 12 or so that mallards create before sitting on them to create ducklings?

Thanks for any guidance you can offer.

Graham

 

[chickens really]

You can wait and see if she will set them once she has collected enough? ....Or go out to collect them yourself daily?.....You are right though, Some Hens will never set to hatch out eggs....


Best wishes...


Cheers!

 

[DancingWthDucks]

I would collect the eggs from the island daily...... Breeds such as Campbells aren't really known for going broody.

 

[cheesy]

Thanks to you both for your helpful advice. I stopped placing the eggs into a nested pile and the next 4 eggs were placed a few feet away from each other so confirmed my suspicions and your suggestions that she wasn't making a nest and simply laying eggs. I have been collecting them up daily and have enjoyed them in poached, fried, scrambled and cake form. Pay back for the food, love and attention we've been giving her. A mutually agreeable trade I feel.

Thanks again.

Graham