My poor little Pekin mama duck began faithfully setting May 1, and here it is May 25.
I opened 3 cold eggs that she pushed out - one had a partially developed baby.
The other 2 didn't. She has a husband.
This is her first nest. She has a deep nest of leaves with her own white feathers all
mixed in and all fluffed up. She is protected from rain. She is free range.
Please, folks, what should I do for her????
(I might have found the info I need in grownut's reference list, but my silly
computer won't open the links!)
Fitsy.
Duck sitting on nest too long?
Pekin eggs take 28 days till hatch. I know with chickens if they are under a year old sometimes the eggs arn't fertile or the fertility isn't strong (if that makes sense). I've always heard that to hatch chicken eggs the hens laying the eggs should be at least a year old. Is she a young duck? maybe that has something to do with it. We have a duck but right now only a male. We will be getting females so duck stuff is all new to me as well.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!! I thought the time was 21 days.
So maybe she will hatch a few of her big pile of eggs. I will be
happy if she gets one!! I was feeling so sorry for her.
Yes, she is just a year old.
Fitsy
smedgekles is right 28 days for ducks 21 for chickens and 18 for quail seems the larger the egg the longer the time. i wonder how long a pterodactyl would take.lol hope you get some little ones, if at 30 days and she is still setting you might see if you can find some little ones to buy and slip them under her in the evening hours she will soon leave the nest with the new babys. good luck "whitebear"
Keep us posted and when they hatch be sure and post pictures.
Thanks, ya'll, I'll do that!
I have already checked the feed & seed store - their baby
ducks are gone. But now I hope I won't need their's!
Fitsy
PS. Whitebear, how about an ostrich!!??!!
Fitsy
hay fitsy ostrich about 45 days emu's 56 days
use to work at a wildlife park almost got my leg broke by an ostrich one time. emus aren't bad about that.
Hey thumb!! I always thought you were supposed to ride and ostrich not wrestle them. So you lost the battle, but looks like you won the war. LOL Haystack
hay haystack never rode the ostrich but i did ride the giraffe and got bucked off, talk about a long fall knocked the wind right out of me, and it is hard to run from a mad giraffe when you can't breath. lol
OMGosh! lol! I know it must not have been funny at the time but ! You must have been straight out in a run considering how long a Giraffe's legs are!
LOL Got a visual on that one.. Too funny!
lol i was running rolling and crawling it was a sight.
Fitsy, I hope you know that we are counting the days with you! I hope by the weekend you have lil' ducklings running about. :-)
It's helping me get my mind off of a BO that's sitting on a rather large pile of eggs(due to hatch around June 3rd....)
gt, you've got me giggling all over again! By the sounds of it, if someone video taped it, you would be ten thousand dollars richer on Americas Funniest videos! lol!
When I was in high school, my best friend lived on a dairy farm and we were taking a stroll through one of the pastures. At the far end was a cow and my friend assured me the bull wasn't kept in this particular lot. As we came closer, I noticed that it most definetly was not a cow but indeed was a bull. As the animal lumbered toward us, my friend again insisted that the bull was not in this lot. This discussion kept up until his gait hastened and she saw the appendage that I had seen earlier! Anyone watching us would have split a gut! I don't think I ever ran that fast before or since!
Fitsy can't wait and don't forget the pics lots of pics . saanansandy would of loved to see that.
Tonight feels like Christmas Eve! What will the
stork bring tomorrow?!
Sandy, what's a BO, and how many is a large pile?
One of my fears is that my duck (named Freight Train
because she is so loud) has too many eggs to keep
warm enough. I could see 14 today, and she has lost
several along, pushed out or stolen? Twice I found
broken shells in the wading pool!!!
Gad, setting for 56 days should give a critter deep vein
thrombosis.
I can't imagine eluding a mad giraffe. I'd be a gonner.
Gthumbus must be enchanted!
I have to go see what is hollering in the woods.
Fitsy
Sorry thumb!!! I'm glad you can't hear me laughing, I'm with ZZ's the visual is just too funny. I'm not sure what would scare me more? those long legs or that long neck. Thank the Lord you weren't riding on that long neck. That would give new meaning to slippery slope. Haystack
no problem haystack can't help but laugh my self when i think back about it.
Fitsy, BO stands for Buff Orpington chicken. She's setting on about 20 eggs. I'm hoping its not too many. She had about a dozen but other hens would climb in w/ her and lay their eggs pretty much on top of her. We had her blocked off from the others but apparently not good enough! She's completely isolated from everyone now. She seems to have all the eggs covered so hopefully they will hatch ok.
Thanks, Sandy.
Nothing stirring with Freight Train. Shortly before 3 PM
she covered her eggs with fluffy feathers and leaves,
and went off to the creek.
Maybe I am counting wrong(ly). Her first day of sitting all
day was May 1, so I counted that day one. But maybe you
wait until 24 hours roll around, and so early on May 2, I
would say "one". So if that is so, then tomorrow is the 28th
day. ( but she probably sat all night before May 1, I bet)
Hoping, Fitsy
Muscovie ducks are 35 days. That's a long time. Mallards are 27. I have 10 mallard ducklings left out of 19. They did great for a long time and then 6 died in 1 day. I think they had gotten too cold and took sick. One got trampled in an eating frenzy. I sent 2 home with my DGS to La last week. The 10 I have left are doing great and growing like bad weeds. They are the messiest, stinkiest birds I know of.
Aren't they! Utter slop buckets. But I love them
for the joy they express when they get to water!
And their design is so odd and wonderful.
Nothing has happened
Fitsy
Here it is May 29, and my Pekin duck began setting May 1.
Does it ever happen that the babys can't break the shell??
Should I interfere??
Fitsy
Fitsy... if they didn't hatch, it was probably for a reason.. If they pip and are in distress for around 24 hours.. then I might... but otherwise, we have to let nature take it's course. :( I know it's hard.
Thank you. What would be the kindest thing for the
mother? Just remove the nest???
Thank you for your help.
Fitsy
Can you candle the eggs?
Actually, anyone else could probably answer this better than me.. I really don't know. I'm not sure what I would do!
I hope it works out okay.
This message was edited May 30, 2009 8:59 PM
I wouldn't destroy the nest just yet. If it were me, I'd wait a while. She will likely give it up on her own when it has been too long. If you take it away now you may be destroying viable eggs and at the very least you will have her stressing over her "lost" nest. Better to let her deal with it on her own.
Thank you very much, ya'll.
Keep in mind that even though she started sitting on May 1st the eggs may not have germinated for a couple of days. Sometimes it takes a few days. So I'd wait.
Thank you, thank you.
Hi Fitsy!! What you are experiencing is difficult, but I agree with Cajun, there are just to many variables when it comes to polutry. There will be no harm to wait it out just a bit longer. Then you'll be satisfied you have done all you could. If you get no babies this time don't despair and give up. They will come and you will rejoice, and so will we rejoice with you. Haystack
Freight Train has hatching!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is day 35.
I see one little head.
Freight Train is sitting tight. Baby food and water is there.
Joy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fitsy
Oh Happy DAY!! You waited sooooo long! Fantastic news! Congrats Fitsy!
I love that name.. I'm gonna have to name one of my chicks Fitsy.. it's just too cute!
congrats Fitsy "never give up never surrender"
YIPPEE That is good to hear. Hope you have a camera ready and waiting.
Glad the wait paid off. Will be looking for the pics! So glad you didn't toss the eggs.
Thanks, ya'll. Boy, am I glad I kept my paws off!
But now I am slightly worried because now, 24 hours after
hatch started, Freight Train is still glued to the nest with no
food or water. When 3 eggs were discarded a while back,
I opened them, and one had a baby and the other 2 didn't.
So will the babies starve while FT tries to hatch the duds???
Thanks, ZZ, my darling brothers named me "Fitsy"
Fitsy