Rouen Duck thread

[lindsaydavis]

I found a nest of 10 eggs that my Rouen hen had hidden on Saturday. Sure enough, today she had moved her nest into a wet corner of the duck pen and now has 12 eggs. Tonight I took a candler out to check on the eggs and they were incredibly cold. Not sure how good of a broody hen she is going to be. When candling, I couldn't see much development but she is with a drake so I am assuming they are fertile. I want to incubate her eggs but I have a few questions. She is crested so I know a percentage of the eggs are not viable/will not make it. How long will she continue to lay? Should I go ahead and take the 12 and collect them as she lays them- I'd like to incubate them all at once. Are most of the eggs going to be a loss with the cold weather & the time before the incubation period? Thanks!

 

[ducklover87]

[COLOR=333333]I found a nest of 10 eggs that my Rouen hen had hidden on Saturday.  Sure enough, today she had moved her nest into a wet corner of the duck pen and now has 12 eggs.  Tonight I took a candler out to check on the eggs and they were incredibly cold.  Not sure how good of a broody hen she is going to be.  When candling, I couldn't see much development but she is with a drake so I am assuming they are fertile.  I want to incubate her eggs but I have a few questions.  She is crested so I know a percentage of the eggs are not viable/will not make it.   How long will she continue to lay?  Should I go ahead and take the 12 and collect them as she lays them- I'd like to incubate them all at once.  Are most of the eggs going to be a loss with the cold weather & the time before the incubation period?  Thanks! [/COLOR]

Is her Drake crested? Depends on the duck its hard to say how many she will lay or if she will go broody or not. If you are looking to incubate them, the best way s to collect the eggs as you get them and keep them in a controlled environment until you are happy with the number to start incubating.

 

[ducklover87]

ok so that means shes like 4 months old so a few more months? or will she lay during winter?

It will be a few more weeks before she lays. They usually start at about 20 weeks old. And yes she should lay during winter.

 

[kpsocalchicks89]

Ok great I can't wait!!

 

[Kelsykin]

We just got 3 Rouens about a week ago. 2 hens and a drake. I have been given conflicting information that I would like to get clear. The guy I got them from told me they will lay all winter, but others have told me they won't lay in the winter. Will they lay eggs through the winter or not?

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

They might but it likely will not be as frequent as it would be during Spring or Summer. Or they might stop all together.

 

[Kelsykin]

I have hem on a mix of poultry crumbles, cracked corn, rabbit pellets, oatmeal, BOSS, and some chick feed to see what they like. When I had ducks before my Welsh Harlequins and Pekins ate everything I put out for them. I am trying to see what these guys like and what they don't care for. May get some layer rations to mix in with their feed so that they may be more inclined to lay. I may add some Harlequins to the flock next Spring, but not sure if I really will.

 

[arnaudgf]

We just got 3 Rouens about a week ago. 2 hens and a drake. I have been given conflicting information that I would like to get clear. The guy I got them from told me they will lay all winter, but others have told me they won't lay in the winter. Will they lay eggs through the winter or not?

People's opinion differ on the subject.

Our girls are getting to their laying age right now and winter is settling in so we weren't sure they would start laying. But we found our first eggs on saturday morning

I'm not sure it's from the Rouen though since we have 1 Rouen, 2 Khakhis and 2 Cayugas. The eggs are white so I assume they're not from the cayugas, my best bet is it's form the khakis Campbell but one was huuuuge (ended up being a double) so I wonder how a little girl could come up with such a monster

Anyway, we're in upstate NY, temperature at night are around freezing already, we barely have 11h of day light a day, we do not use artificial light in their house, and at least one of them started laying and is still going (one more egg on Sunday and another one this morning)

 

[Kelsykin]

Thank you. I will just have to check their house daily. We are using an old dog house that the person that gave it to us used to house chickens. We tossed in a bunch of straw and they have been loving it. We positioned it so that the opening is facing away from the directions we get our weather out of. Being in North East Wisconsin it is a we bit chilly. it is 37 outside atm. Going to wait a bit before I go out to feed them and check their water. My husband did find a used 100 gallon stock tank that he is going to get for them. Even has a tank heater / DeIcer to drop in in. Should be plenty for them to have water. He was saying something about a filter too. We spoil our animals as much as we can around here. I am also trying to win over the Rouens.

They are not all that people friendly. I am trying to find a food that they got nuts over. Kate is the vocal one in the group. She is not afraid of much and is the only one that eats when I am around. Ziva is the other hen. She is a bit stand offish and more aware of things. McGee is our drake and he watches over the girls when they are eating. He has on several occasions when he saw me coming shooed them back into their house. I am wondering if I should toss them some pasta or boiled potato peels? Hard boiled eggs crushed up? I have never had this hard of a time finding a food that made an animal go crazy to get.

We are also doing our work near their pen and not looking at them or talking to them. Kind of doing our own thing and acting like the ducks aren't there. My husband said that they watch us closely when we do that. I am more into them getting use to us and then them allowing us to be near them? I want them to see us as the happy things around here. The ducks I use to have would come running when they saw us. ( Pekins and Welsh Harlequins ) They knew we would give them treats. They also knew that if they followed me around I might forget to close the pen door and let them have some free roaming time.

We are looking to pen in a 20' x 30' area for them. The three of them are currently in a 10' x 10' dog enclosure. We are also looking to build them more lean to type housing. I think that would be a bit better since we have hawks and a Bald Eagle was in a pine across from my house last week. I just don't want to have my ducks taken by a hawk or eagle.

 

[arnaudgf]

People here say that ducks usually love peas (ours don't really seem to care for them).
Dry meal worms could do the trick as well.