Incubating duck eggs?

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Happy
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Incubating duck eggs?

Post by Happy » Wed Apr 18, 2018 11:41 pm

So I went to pick up some OEGB eggs today to give to my broody Little. I took my newly chicken crazed neighbour with me and we were invited into the barn to see the chickens, ducks, peacock, goats....the list goes on! On the way out my neighbor asked if they ever sell fertilized duck eggs and he scooped 3 up off the shelf and said "Here!" So home we came with 8 mixed coloured OEGB eggs and 3 greenish-blue coloured duck eggs. I'd like to throw them in the incubator as soon as this hatch is done ( lockdown in 6 days). Is that going to be too long to store the eggs? And can you successfully incubate duck eggs with chicken eggs or do ducks need higher humidity? I do know that they take longer to hatch. Any idea what breed of duck lays a greenish coloured egg?
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windwalkingwolf
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Re: Incubating duck eggs?

Post by windwalkingwolf » Thu Apr 19, 2018 2:12 pm

Is that (6 days) going to be too long to store the eggs?
Nope! As long as they're fresh and kept cool. They have a longer shelf life than chicken eggs, and even at a month old, many will still be fertile. But they like it cool. A duck will sometimes take that long to make her nest, and still have a great hatch. Ducks eggs are tough.
Can you successfully incubate duck eggs with chicken eggs?
Yes!Only thing is, ducklings (depending on breed) tend to be larger than chicks, so when they hatch, if they're bopping chicken eggs about, those unhatched chicken eggs can get broken.
Do ducks need higher humidity?
During incubation, no. while hatching, they need it slightly higher because once pipped, they can take MUCH longer to get out of an egg than chicks do, 48 hours, and can shrinkwrap. You think it's nerve wracking waiting for pipped chicks to come out, wait until you try ducks. Good news is, if you have chickens hatching at the same time as ducks, there should be LOTS of moisture and you shouldn't have to add water.
Duck eggs take a week longer than chicken eggs, to the day. Unless they're muscovy, then it's two weeks longer.
Any idea what breed of duck lays a greenish coloured egg?
Lots of breeds, and most cross breeds lay blue or green. Most are supposed to lay white, but colour is variable even in purebreds because of past outcrossing. Sometimes it's shell colour, and sometimes it's a white egg with a greenish bloom.
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Re: Incubating duck eggs?

Post by baronrenfrew » Thu Apr 19, 2018 8:08 pm

all domestic ducks are derived from mallards which normally lay a green egg; except muscovy ducks which are a completely different bird; like a horse and a donkey. if you cross a mallard bird (rouen, pekin etc.) with a muscovy then the hybrid is infertile, like a mule.
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kenya
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Re: Incubating duck eggs?

Post by kenya » Thu Apr 19, 2018 8:11 pm

Ha! Ha! Put those duck eggs under Little wouldn't that make for some cute pictures.
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Happy
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Re: Incubating duck eggs?

Post by Happy » Thu Apr 19, 2018 8:24 pm

Without fail I got all my questions answered and then some! Thank you so much!!! I'm a bit scared to try hatching those eggs only because I do not want ducks. But holy hell ducklings are adorable. I may not be strong enough for this lol.
@kenya you can bet Little would do her darndest to cover those eggs lol She's sitting on 9 little eggs (8 purchased and one of hers that I saved from about 8 days ago) I'm not sure I should have given her so many. The most she's hatched is 6. But she wiggles and tucks and flattens and tosses shavings until she's got them covered lol
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kenya
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Re: Incubating duck eggs?

Post by kenya » Thu Apr 19, 2018 8:38 pm

A friend last year asked me to hatch some runner duck for him. He gave me a dozen eggs, I put them in with the chicken eggs and hatched out 10, both he and I were surprised, I didn't do anything different for them.
20170608_115610.jpg
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Happy
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Re: Incubating duck eggs?

Post by Happy » Fri Apr 20, 2018 7:16 am

Nice job! So @kenya were you tempted to keep a few ducklings?
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kenya
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Re: Incubating duck eggs?

Post by kenya » Fri Apr 20, 2018 10:02 am

Ha! Ha! No. I had a little call duck drake , beautiful little guy but what a pig played in the water and made a huge mess every day. No ducks for me!
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WLLady
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Re: Incubating duck eggs?

Post by WLLady » Fri Apr 20, 2018 10:31 am

muscovies are 2 weeks longer. most other ducks are 28 days like turkeys. and i incubated mine right alongside chickens with all the same temp and humidity and the poor guy that hired me to hatch ducks was overwhelmed in ducks. he got me to incubate about 200 eggs, assuming that only about 25% would hatch!!!??!!! well, that was his success at another place doing hatching for him. so i fired them into my incubator with 160 chicken eggs on top and locked down the chickens at 18 days, and then the next week the ducks, and i ended up delivering a 100% hatch of ducks to him in 3 humungo cardboard boxes! OMG they're cute. they're fuzzy. they play in the water the instant they go into the brooder (forewarned) they make an awful mess of the brooder!!!!!

funniest was he also had me hatch some muscovies for him and well in a second batch, he had mismarked some eggs so at 28 days i had buff ducks hatching in the incubator.....because he had them marked at muscovy.....so apparently turning them all the way to hatch didn't seem to kill them! but i couldn't figure out where the quacking was coming from.... because the hatcher was empty by then! and well...WAY WAY in the back where i can't reach were 2 little buff ducks hanging out happy as toast....so had to get hubby to come and reach in a get them. LOL
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