I have read until me eyes hurt and then read some more. I want to incubate some of my duck eggs this year. I have found most of the information I need. But I do still have a few questions that I wasn't able to find the answers to from my research. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Background info: I thought I had 1 male and 3 females, up until a week ago, when I discovered one of my females had started sporting a drake feather. So I'm re-homing him this week. My ducks are in a smaller enclosure so I only want 1 drake in my flock. So after re-homing him I will have 1 khaki campbell drake, 1 pekin female, and 1 black swedish female. My pekin should lay but not sit as pekins aren't broody at all. My black swedish should hopefully be a broody duck. I started finding eggs 5 days ago. Of those 5 days, I have found 4 eggs. Sometimes the eggs are laid inside the hutch and sometimes they are laid in random places outside of the hutch, around the enclosure. I'm not sure which duck is laying, the swedish or the pekin. I do already have an incubator set up. It’s a small incubator. I have run it for 2 days to monitor the temperature and check for accuracy. It does have an automatic egg turner, which I have also run for 2 days to ensure that it's working properly.
QUESTIONS:
Background info: I thought I had 1 male and 3 females, up until a week ago, when I discovered one of my females had started sporting a drake feather. So I'm re-homing him this week. My ducks are in a smaller enclosure so I only want 1 drake in my flock. So after re-homing him I will have 1 khaki campbell drake, 1 pekin female, and 1 black swedish female. My pekin should lay but not sit as pekins aren't broody at all. My black swedish should hopefully be a broody duck. I started finding eggs 5 days ago. Of those 5 days, I have found 4 eggs. Sometimes the eggs are laid inside the hutch and sometimes they are laid in random places outside of the hutch, around the enclosure. I'm not sure which duck is laying, the swedish or the pekin. I do already have an incubator set up. It’s a small incubator. I have run it for 2 days to monitor the temperature and check for accuracy. It does have an automatic egg turner, which I have also run for 2 days to ensure that it's working properly.
QUESTIONS:
- Collecting: This is where I'm having the most trouble. I think I only have 1 duck laying and from what I’ve read the eggs should be collected every 7 days. So if I were to collect after 7 days, I would only have 5 or 6 eggs. 1. Is 5-6 eggs enough to put in the incubator or is that too few? The day time temps here are anywhere between 35-55F right now, with night time temps dropping in the 20’s and 30’s. So I’m not sure when to collect. I’ve read that eggs can be collected every day and then stored for about a week in a 50-60 degree environment. Our weather isn’t currently allowing for that so I’m wondering if I should even attempt to collect the eggs at all. Neither of my ducks are sitting on the eggs, so when they are laid, the eggs are subject to temps anywhere from 25-60F. 2. Does it hurt the eggs to sit in cold weather for a few hours, until I actually discover the eggs? It’s hard to know exactly when to check but I do check every day. 3. If I collect everyday is there some way I can keep the eggs fairly warm for a week until I’m ready to incubate? My fridge is too cold and my house is usually around 70F so I was afraid that was too warm.
- Feeding: 4. Do I increase my duck’s protein intake since they are laying? If I do this then my drake will also have an increased protein intake so I wasn’t sure if I should just stick with my normal feed or switch and take a chance on giving my drake too much protein.
