silkie on duck eggs

[stumble_n_mumble]

so my broody silkie is on two duck eggs. they are a white pekin cross with a blue swedish... should be an interesting mixture... so how long does it take to hatch if their fertile??

 

[MuranoFarms]

28 days. Those are big eggs for that little hen! lol I bet that's so cute!

 

[muddyhorse]

My silkie hatched a kaki campbell and a crested cayuga last year. it takes 28 days. ducks take more humidity than chickens, since we hatched in missouri in the summer 80-90% humidity out side I didn't have to mist the eggs. you might have two closer to the hatch date. good luck keep us updated

 

[stumble_n_mumble]

im so excited!!! i gave my silkie 2 duck eggs like 6 or 5 days ago and didnt think they were fertile until today i collected 5 duck eggs and they all had the white rings around the white dot!!!!!!!!!! im so excited. what should i be able to see if i candle them??? i live in ny and its snowing like crazy she should be fine but what about humidity for the eggs???

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I have a bunch of mixed-breed bantams that go broody whenever the little voices in their heads tell them to. Last summer I put 6 KC duck eggs under one and she hatched out 4 ducklings. It was funny to watch her try to teach them how to scratch, to imagine them pestering her to take them to the pool. They quickly outgrew her, but would still want to cuddle up with her at night. They required surprisingly little therapy to adjust to life as waterfowl when they grew up.

I have another hen who went broody a few weeks ago. We're in South Florida, but have been having colder than usual temps, even some nights of frost & freeze. I have another 6 KC duck eggs under her and expect them to hatch in another 7-10 days. I haven't candled the eggs, just going to wait & be surprised.

 

[stumble_n_mumble]

lol that is funny. i hope these eggs are indeed fertile

id be really upset if they werent lol. and im afraid to go out there and smash an egg open to find a growing duckling...

 

[CrestedHorizonPoultry]

I have a neighbor down the road that takes my cull silkie pullets and she has them on peacock eggs, goose eggs, turkey eggs and anything else she wants to hatch out. They do a great job on all eggs.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I rarely, if ever, candle the eggs under the broody hens. I used to at the beginning, but made some mistakes & have since decided to leave them alone. I have accidently dropped or cracked developing eggs, especially when the irate Mama hen pecks at my wrists while I'm moving eggs in or out from under her. I have also discarded eggs that were actually alive & developing. If it turns out that all the eggs are duds & don't develop, I can at that time either give the hen a new clutch or put her in the Broody Buster & relieve her of her duties. Besides, considering the amount of activity I see my ducks engage in, I don't doubt that their eggs are fertile.

 

[NanaKat]

You could always replace bad eggs with newly purchased chicks...slipping them under her at night.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I know other folks have reported great success with this, but my hens have always rejected chicks they didn't hatch. Yes, I used all the proper techniques, slipping them in after dark, etc etc. They let the chicks in at night, but by light of day they refused them. Even though they looked like their own chicks, I think it had to do with their unfamiliar chirps. I would rather break a broody's mood, or re-set her, than be stuck with a bunch of orphan chicks I now have to care for.