when do domestic baby ducks hatch.

[Mrstitch]

good day to you. i have 4 ducks, i bought them from a pet store and i raised them sense then. it has been a year and i recently checked there nesting boxes and both females (i have 2 females and 2 males) have started laying. when i first found eggs it was late February. now its the beginning of march and already 1 of my females it laying like crazy. i have counted more than 26 eggs.
i want to keep the babies and return the mothers and fathers to the wild but i don't know what time of year they usually hatch. please be of assistance and give me a idea.

 

[hanjj033]

Hi
Duck eggs usually take around 28 days to hatch, how ever Muscovy eggs take a little longer. So it depends what breed you have. Usually if ducks have just started laying, the first few eggs wont be fertile. I got a male and a female of the same age and the female started laying at around 6 months, wereas we didnt get any fertilized eggs until around 8 months. So the drake was a little slow to get himself into gear if you know what I mean. You can check if the eggs are fertile by "candling" them, which is shining a bright light or torch through them. After about 3-5 days of incubating, a fertile egg should show some veins when candled. If there is nothing wait a few more days and if there is nothing at around a week and a half, then your eggs are not fertile. So you might want to hold onto the males and females a bit longer, so you get some eggs that are actually fertile =)

 

[Mrstitch]

thx u

 

[TLWR]

It is now the middle of May - did they hatch any ducklings?

Your ducks didn't come from the wild, haven't lived in the wild in a year and should not be returned to the wild after you get ducklings.
If you don't want to keep the adults, find them a new home.