remain. The eggs should get one last turning, cooling and misting and the incubator closed. The temperature should be decreased to 98.5°F and the humidity should be increased. The eggs should not be touched nor should the incubator be opened until the ducklings have hatched. Opening the incubator causes the humidity level to drop drastically, and moving the eggs can cause them not the hatch. At this point, the ducklings will move into “hatch position” and turning an egg will disorient the duckling, possibly preventing it from being able to successfully break the shell and hatch.
By day 28, you should see small holes (pips), in the eggs, indicating that the ducklings are starting to work their way out of the shell.
Day 28. Hopefully, if all goes well, on day 28 you will begin to see “pips” (small holes or cracks) appear in the eggshells. The eggs might start rocking and even peep back at you if you quack at them (don’t ask me how I know this – just trust me, they will!) The duckling will then begin to make its way out of the shell, “zipping” off the top of the egg and then emerging from the shell.
Once the duckling has made a sizeable hole and is breathing the air in the incubator instead of the air inside the eggshell, it will often take a break to rest up for the final push. This break can last for hours; up to 12 hours is quite common. You shouldn’t be tempted to help a duckling unless it has been more than 12 hours since the initial pip and you haven’t seen any further progress, or the duckling is nearly out but seems twisted or wrapped up in the membrane or is “shrink wrapped” in a dried membrane, in which case lightly misting the membrane with warm water can help, as can carefully breaking away pieces of the shell. If you see any bleeding, stop immediately and leave it alone for a few more hours.
After they hatch, ducklings need to stay in the incubator until they are rested, dried and fluffy.
The entire hatching process can take 48 hours or longer, so resist the urge to assist and just enjoy watching nature take its course. Leave the ducklings in the incubator until they are rested, dried, fluffy and starting to move around. They don’t need to eat or drink for the first 48 hours; they can survive on the nutrients in the egg yolk they absorb just prior to hatching. Once they have dried off, they should be moved to a heated brooder. A few sips of sugar water (3 tablespoons sugar per quart of water) before you put them in the brooder is always a good idea to give your new ducklings some added energy and a good start in life.
Hatching under a duck is far less complicated if you are lucky enough to have a duck cooperate and decide to sit on eggs. The mother duck handles it all. Be sure she has a nice nest of straw in a location safe from the elements, predators and the rest of the flock, and provide her with feed and water close by. Blocking off her nest will ensure that other ducks don’t lay more eggs alongside those she is trying to hatch, and will also prevent broken eggs if another duck wants to use the nest to lay her eggs.
Herbs for the nest. It’s beneficial to add some fresh or dried herbs to the nest. Oftentimes, ducks aren’t overly broody, so some calming herbs such as chamomile, lavender, bee balm, yarrow or lemon balm will relax her and encourage her to sit. Since she’s not swimming as much as she would otherwise, you can add some insect-repelling herbs to the nest to help keep it parasite-free; these include basil, bay leaves, mint, rosemary and thyme. Lastly, a few herbs with antibacterial properties are always a good idea. Basil, yarrow and thyme do double-duty here, as does bee balm. Rose petals have antibacterial qualities, plus they smell nice and ducks love to eat them – so toss a few (untreated) rose petals into the nest as well.
The mother duck will turn the eggs, rotate those from the outer ring to the inner ring for even heating, and also most likely kick any non-developing eggs out of the nest. She will control the temperature and humidity. You don’t need to candle eggs incubating under a duck. Once the ducklings hatch, she’ll keep them warm and teach them how to eat and drink, as well as introduce them to the rest of the flock when they are ready.
Once the ducklings hatch, I move them with the mother duck into a separate cage or crate inside the duck house for a week or so and then let mother duck see how she feels about taking her babies out to explore. Just keep an eye on them initially to be sure the other flock members don’t bother them, and be aware that they are very vulnerable to all kinds of predators, including hawks, snakes, rats, cats, and all the other normal predators, so restricting them to an enclosed pen is safest.
When a broody chicken sits on duck eggs
Duck eggs need 28 days to hatch, compared to the 21 days that chicken eggs require, but a broody chicken can, and will, successfully sit on duck eggs for the entire four-week incubation period. To help maintain the proper humidity, duck eggs benefit from putting a piece of sod on the bottom of the nest and misting the eggs once a day. Remember that the ducklings won’t have the protective oils a mother duck would impart to their feathers at hatch, so swimming should be limited for the first few weeks. But the look on the mother hen’s face when her “baby chicks” hop into the water tub and start bathing will be priceless!
A chicken will sometimes sit on a nest of duck eggs.
THREE
BROODING AND RAISING DUCKLINGS
Raising ducklings, referred to as “brooding,” is fairly easy, but be forewarned – it can be messy. Fortunately, ducklings’ cuteness more than makes up for any mess they make! They do need a bit of care to survive and grow into healthy ducks, so before bringing your ducklings home, there are some basics you should know.
If you were lucky enough to hatch your ducklings under a duck, she will keep them warm and be sure they learn how to eat and drink; so all you need to do is provide her a secure location out of the elements, separated from the rest of the flock for safety’s sake, and safe from predators. It’s always a good idea to have a brooding area ready, though, because sometimes a duck will successfully hatch her ducklings but then not be a very good mother, stepping on the ducklings, becoming aggressive toward them, abandoning them or losing interest. In that case, they will need to be moved into a heated brooder.
The brooder box
Whether you hatch fertile eggs in an incubator or buy day-old ducklings locally or online, their first stop will be a heated brooder for the first few weeks of their lives. What kind of brooder should you provide? A simple plastic tote will suffice for the first week or so, as long as it is draft-free and protected from curious children and pets. Ducks are messy and like to play in their water, so a cardboard box generally isn’t the best choice for a brooder. They also grow fast. You might prefer to skip the small tote and start them in a large dog crate or cage with cardboard or plastic wrapped around the lower half to prevent drafts (and escapees).
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