whoo hoo...2 duck eggs...

[shadust1]

i have two pekin ducks...1 male and 1 female....she laid 2 eggs....built a nest...now what do i do...

do they lay on them all the time???
is there something i need to do to help the process??


omg..what happens if she decides not to lay on them...they will die...wont they??? the temp today was around 75...im not sure when she laid them....had to be lastnight or this morning sometime....any websites to help me...



thanks!!!

 

[lovin my birds]

Lol! Okay first thing to d is to calm down. Lol! Next just be patient if she is going to go broody she will probably wait till she has quiet a few eggs in there. I dont know about pekins but my khaki campbell waited till she had about 10 eggs. If she made a nest herself before she laid them then there is a good possibility that she will go broody. Just keep watching her. She will start laying on them in short intervals at first till she has enough eggs then she will lay on them full time. This is just to make sure that they all hatch at the same time. It amazing how smart they are. Lol! Anyway if she does sit on them and they start developing and then she stops yes they will die. They need to have a constent temp of I think it is like 95 or something. I have never incubated duck eggs myself so dont know to much about it. If you have an incubator I would get it out and get it going just in case. That is what I did with mine. Especially since all threee of my broosies where first time mammas. There is nothing you can really do to help her lay unless you can find more fertile eggs to put in the nest when she isnt looking and then she will think she has enough and start sitting. Just be patient I have heard people say that their pekins never go broody and some say their pekins are their best broodies. It all depends on the duck and how strong its natural instinct are to hatch ducklings. I hope she does go broody for you and follows through. There is nothing cuter than watching a mamma duck and her ducklings following her around.

 

[shadust1]

well...just went outside to check on my babies because usually the ducks r all around the house quacking away..well for some reason today they arent at all...so i went down to check on her and she isnt in the greenhouse on the nest but had one egg laying there and one in the nest...there was one egg laying on the ground really small n smooshy....then when i went out to clean out the pool there was a little tiny egg that came out of the pool...like she laid one in there...so i just put the one back in her nest....and threw the two bad ones away....im just gonna play this by ear because im really not sure what to do for her....gonna go out right now n check on her again...thanks!!!

 

[lovin my birds]

How old is she? If she is young then you might want to get her some grit to help her develop her egg shells. If these are her first eggs there will be mistakes made.

 

[SassyKat6181]

if her shells are soft, she needs oyster shell, if you are not feeding her layer pellets. also, if she has just started laying, her eggs may not be fertile yet. i've read that the chance of hatching is greatly reduced when they have only just begun.

 

[Oregon Blues]

Just a suggestion:

Pekins aren't famous for going broody. If she is going to set on a nest, she will arrange a nest and lay her eggs there. She won't set until she has a good collection all in the nest.

If she is laying here and there, she isn't going to set on them, so I suggest that you take the eggs up every day and eat them.

I would be very surprised if she even considers setting on a nest before next spring. This is very late in the year for ducks to be nesting and she is very young.

You can arrange a very safe nest for her with nice bedding and if she starts to collect eggs in it, or if she makes herself a nest under the bushes, you can always cross your fingers and hope she will hatch out ducklings.

I would not allow a duck to nest out under the bushes unless the bushes were enclosed in a very secure and safe yard. Ducks are extremely vulnerable while on the nest and you certainly don't want to lose her to a predator.

 

[shadust1]

so i do have her on the dumor from tractor supply but i think she is on the grower/finisher not the layer...so r my chickens(which r also laying eggs..went down to check the other day n there were 18 eggs in there..lol) ouch..thought they were tooo young for all this...checked online and all the eggs r good...egg salad..yummy....


so as far as the duck eggs...guess ill see if my sister wants them because i feel wierd eating her eggs...she is my baby....i looked foward to my chicken eggs..but not eating my duck eggs...i know people say they r great but....


so my next step is to buy layer for all of them and buy oyster shells....