![]() She needs to be allowed off the eggs at least once a day, fifteen to twenty minutes on average, at the same time each day. The broody boxes need ventilation holes and should be kept in the shade or under shelter to avoid heat stress to the broody in hot weather. Such eggs should be removed so they don’t contaminate the good ones. ![]() Any which are completely clear after 10 days are infertile and if, after 20 days, you cannot see clear signs of blood vessels then the embryo has most probably died and is going rotten. As you would do with eggs in an incubator, eggs are candled by shining a bright light through the egg. The next evening, she needs to be lifted from the broody box for exercise in her run, and then the dummy eggs can be removed, and the waterfowl eggs slipped in.Īn experienced breeder will candle the eggs once or twice during incubation – it is best after 10 days and again after 20 days. A few dummy eggs should be left under the broody for a day or two to test her. A base layer of clean sand, covered with leaf mould or a sod of grass, shaped into the form of a nest, should fill the bottom of the box. This is a good time to treat her with a proprietary delousing agent. When the hen has gone broody, she should be gently moved from the run to the box. Silkies, Sumatra Game, Scots Dumpies and crosses of these breeds are cited by many as being the best sitters.įor a modest collection, a bank of three to six broody boxes and a series of short netting covered runs are needed. You need a ‘bank’ of spares, ones that have proven themselves and in turn should have been bred from, to fix the characteristics you require – the incubation and rearing of the waterfowl. Good broodies are hard to come by so it is best to keep your own flock. The ideal broody is steady, quiet, clean of feather on feet and does not mind being handled. Using a broody hen is a very traditional but effective way of incubating. Normally a clutch takes up to 14/16 days to complete. A few degrees above or below this figure while the clutch is being collected should do no harm to the eggs. A wine cabinet is one option for storing eggs. Eggs should be stored on a tray of sand in a cool place. You should also have a separate bag to carry any obvious addled eggs, the aim is to prevent transfer of harmful bacteria. Take a fresh container with clean straw and soft lining. Notes on the nature and effectiveness of the broody or location of the nest might be kept too.Ĭleanliness is one of the best ways to improve your success with incubating. The species the date incubation started and the anticipated date of hatching should be written down. Notes can be taken on a smartphone too, but hard copy is still a sensible option. Memory, especially with several different species or broody hens sitting, can be embarrassingly unreliable! It is therefore recommended that a simple record (on a card) is kept with each clutch. Egg Collecting, Storage and Record Keeping Some of the smaller teal can be very suspicious of any disturbance and are better left until the clutch is complete. Very small bantam eggs, matched for size and weight, may be an alternative substitute but not always. ![]() However, despite this risk, it may be better to leave small duck eggs in the nest rather than exchanging them for dummies. Then, should a predator find the nest, at least some of the eggs may be saved. One method for larger ducks and geese is to take the eggs, as they are laid, and replace them with dummies of near identical size and weight, until the clutch is complete. Geese and swans, where males play a parental role, are frequently more successful. This may influence our decision whether or not to parent rear. It varies from species to species how much involvement drakes, ganders and cobs have in the raising of the family. Males may guard nests some species may even share the incubation. It is particularly obvious in female waterfowl. Going ‘broody’ is a natural phenomenon with nearly all birds that incubate eggs. Sometimes if the first clutch of eggs is taken away, it is possible that the female will lay a repeat clutch in the same season. We may remove eggs because the mother is not a good sitter or is being disturbed by other birds. However, for a number of reasons this is not always practical in captivity. ![]() In an ideal world, female waterfowl should incubate their own eggs. ![]()
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