Duck egg incubating

[Flufftheduck42]

My ducks just started laying eggs recently. She wasn’t making a nest, just laying them randomly around the pond, one every day or two. I know ducks won’t sit on the nest until the last egg is laid. If you want to incubate them are you supposed to wait and put them in the incubator at the same time? I have two eggs on day 21, two on day 15 and one on day 8. Now I’m wondering what to do about lockdown?

 

[Rooster G]

That is a staggered hatch. Many people have a second incubator that is designated as a hatcher only.

 

[americanchicks]

What kind of ducks? Do you have nest boxes? Remember ducks like boxes that are roomy enough and lower to the ground. I have a few muscovy girls that just started laying. At first they where laiyng eggs on the ground so I have been keeping one egg in the nest boxes, even putting the ducks in, they seemed very interested in the egg. Now they are all laying in the boxes. Even then sometimes you get ducks that just lay on the ground.

When incubating I gather eggs for a week or so, store them in a cool place (65 degrees), then place them all in the incubator. With your stretched out incubation you are going to need some sort of brooder or separate incubator to put them in. Since you need to stop turning them 3 days prior and you cant have the new babies that come out crashing into the younger eggs, that would be bad. Those little guys are like bulldozers when finding their feet. Good luck.