Topic of the Week - Duck Hens 101

[chickens really]

Sorry, I am in Dallas, TX, zone 8a. By your description, that would be late March here.

Perfect...Give it a try..Best wishes..

 

[GldnValleyHens]

I have 3 Call Hens, and 2 drakes. Do Calls go broody? I would prefer to hatch their eggs using a broody ( either a duck or a hen if one is available) because our incubator is crappy.

 

[chickens really]

I have 3 Call Hens, and 2 drakes. Do Calls go broody? I would prefer to hatch their eggs using a broody ( either a duck or a hen if one is available) because our incubator is crappy.

Yes, they do and make great little Momma Ducks..

 

[Poultrylord]

Another great topic...
Duck Hens are fantastic..I love all my Hens.
My experience with Hens is as followed.
Generally their is one top Hen in each flock..Its not really pecking order as much as it is a Hen that the others follow.
Where she goes the others go too...
The breeds I have had or do have are Appleyard and Calls..
They are seasonal layers and breeders and pick a Drake they like not always the one you choose..They flirt up a storm by head bobbing to the side and quacking to the Drake. They will lay flat out on the ground or on top of the water for the Drake to mount her..They lay one egg daily like Chickens or any bird..
Hens first lay a clutch of eggs in a nest. They will cover them in bedding each time they leave. If you don't want them to become Broody you collect the eggs daily...If a Hen does get to set her eggs she will start staying on the nest and will pluck out some of her chest feathers to line her nest with. Most Ducks incubation period is 28 days with the exception of Calls that are 26 days and Muscovy that are 34 days. Feeding Hens is easy..I do not feed a layer feed, although I provide Oyster shell in a separate dish and lots of fresh veggies to produce healthy Ducklings..I feed a mix of Duck finisher, old style scratch and oat and barley crumbles.
Duck mothers are generally fantastic Mommas and protect their Duckling very well..I remove Momma and Ducklings once the eggs begin hatching to a nursery pen so she can safely bond and get feeding her Ducklings.
Hens are usually sexually mature at around 5 months, although egg laying can be at a later date of around 8 months.
I have only had bossy Hens at Broody time..They can be a bit cranky.
My Ducks are Breeding and I will be incubating my eggs starting this week..Yippee! Cute little Call Ducklings soon..

Enjoy them Hens...

Also,, I might get a domestic mallard pair in the spring. I hear the hens are the best domestic duck broodies. So, chickens really, if you need better duck broodies, go for a pair of mallards.(Or a female)

 

[chickens really]

Also,, I might get a domestic mallard pair in the spring. I hear the hens are the best domestic duck broodies. So, chickens really, if you need better duck broodies, go for a pair of mallards.(Or a female)

Not needed...My Calls are great..Although thanks for the info...Duly noted.

 

[Pyxis]

Great topic, I'll be watching the thread. I am especially interested in how to encourage my ducks to brood and raise their own ducklings.

After having chickens and other birds for many years, I started with ducks in March. I have a small flock of Welsh Harlequins, one drake and three ducks. My ducks started laying when they were just a little over five months old, and are still laying almost daily. They are pretty consistent about using a new box, and all the hens usually lay in the same box.

For now I am collecting eggs every day, but plan to let a clutch to accumulate in the spring. I would love suggestions on the best way to do this. I have two separate coops and night pens, and plan to give the hoped-for broody duck her own pen during incubation.

Great breed choice! But then, I am a little biased, since I've bred and raised Welshies for years WH females are generally broody and make good mothers. If you let a clutch of eggs build up (no more than ten days' worth, since they start to lose viability at ten days) then chances are one of your girls will end up sitting. It's a totally hormonal thing, however, and can't be forced, so just leaving the eggs in the nest and hoping one will start to brood is all you can really do.

I noticed you said you plan to give the broody her own pen while she broods, and that can be fine if you're worried that the others might pick on her or the babies, but I would advise that you not try to move the broody and instead move the others to the other pen. Broody ducks do not do well with being moved.

I have 3 Call Hens, and 2 drakes. Do Calls go broody? I would prefer to hatch their eggs using a broody ( either a duck or a hen if one is available) because our incubator is crappy.

Calls are great broodies! I've even seen them co-brood. I'm very much looking forward to mine raising some of their own ducklings this year, since they're tricky to incubate.

 

[Pyxis]

- When do ducks reach maturity and what to expect?

I've found that my welshies mature around five to six months, and that's when I start to see eggs from them. I can usually tell when they're getting close because they'll start soliciting the males, bobbing their heads at them and enticing them to mate. Usually once I see that I know I can expect eggs pretty soon.

- Egg laying

Egg laying really depends on the breed. Most ducks have a laying season, but in production breeds the 'season' has been drastically increased to something like nine or ten months out of the year. Those would be breeds like pekins, runners, khaki campbells, etc. Other breeds that are more for ornamental purposes like Calls and mallards have a laying season that more closely mimics undomesticated ducks, and then might lay only for the spring and summer and then stop for the year.

- How to handle broody hens

Broody ducks are best left to their own devices. They will choose a nesting spot, lay their eggs, and then settle in to incubate them. They'll get up each day to eat, drink, poop, and have a swim - it's important to make sure they have swimming water, because they will go back to the nest with damp feathers, which increases the humidity. It's best not to move them, since they really don't do well being moved, and moving them is very likely to get them to break from being broody in my experience.

- Nesting

Some ducks are happy to use a nesting box, while others seem happy to just lay their egg wherever they happen to be when they get the urge. I've found eggs in my pools from ducks who decided that they were just going to lay their egg during their morning swim.

Ducks tend to lay in the morning, so if you don't want every day to be a scavenger hunt to try to find where they laid, if you keep them in the coop in the morning and let them out in the early afternoon and they will most likely have laid in the coop.

Some will use nest boxes if you offer them one. Mine have a triangle type design that I originally made for my geese, but the ducks like it too, so now they have some that are appropriately sized for them.

For nesting materials, I provide hay, and they build their nests with it to their liking.

- Feeding hens, calcium needed for laying hens, etc.

I feed all my birds the same thing, a chick starter/grower with 20% protein. All my ducks do very well on it. I don't feed layer because drakes and ducks that aren't currently laying don't need the amount of calcium that's in a layer feed, and too much calcium causes bone issues, kidney damage, etc. So I just offer oyster shell free choice on the side. The ducks that need it take what they need, and the ones that don't need it aren't getting an overdose of calcium.

 

[Michael P]

Pyxis, thanks! Yes, the two pens are identical and side by side. If I'm lucky enough for one of my ducks to go broody, I will leave her in the pen where she chooses to nest, and use the other pen for the rest of the flock.

When I've wanted chickens to brood, I write dates on the eggs and remove the oldest ones after I have the number of eggs in the nest I think the hen can cover successfully.

 

[PirateGirl]

@Pyxis Thank you for sharing! If there are no drakes around, will the hens still do their little mating dance, say for a person? I know a chicken is close to POL when it squats (and it will do this whether there is a rooster or not), is there a tell tale behavior with ducks that indicates eggs are imminent?

Also I'm glad to hear they like your triangle nest boxes. This is very much what I'm thinking about building for my future ducks. I was just going to take 3 pallets and cover them and build a fully covered ducky A-frame with one side hinged open as a door.

 

[Pyxis]

@Pyxis Thank you for sharing! If there are no drakes around, will the hens still do their little mating dance, say for a person? I know a chicken is close to POL when it squats (and it will do this whether there is a rooster or not), is there a tell tale behavior with ducks that indicates eggs are imminent?

Also I'm glad to hear they like your triangle nest boxes. This is very much what I'm thinking about building for my future ducks. I was just going to take 3 pallets and cover them and build a fully covered ducky A-frame with one side hinged open as a door.

If you don't have drakes they may well do it to each other, lol! Ducks are not picky when it comes to mating. If you don't have drakes the females may just decide to mate with each other. Interestingly, geese are the same way. I had just three females for awhile and it wasn't unusual to see my oldest female (definitely female, she lays eggs) mount the other younger girls in the pool. Ducks do the same thing.

Yep, they love the A-frame! That big one is for my geese, but the duck ones are identical, just scaled down. I tuck them against the back wall of the coop so three sides are enclosed and they like the security and privacy.