My female duck has started laying eggs, but does not sit on them. I purchased an incubator so I can hatch them myself. My question is, how should I store the eggs until I have a clutch ready for the incubator?
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I would mark them with an x and o and put them in a cardboard box in a cool part of the house. I keep mine downstairs on a cement floor that stays around 60 degrees this time of year. I would lay them on their sides not like they are in an egg carton, and turn them once a day. I would collect them for about six or seven days and then set them in the incubator
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The duck farmer I purchase eggs from has a candler’s license. In her work area there is a photograph in her educational material which shows how you can tell if an egg has been fertilized.
I don’t have the experience to speak to this but I wonder whether there would be any issues with simply adding fertilized eggs to the incubator as they roll in.
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You can do that, I have, but it also means that ducklings will be hatching every day for a week instead of all seven hatching on one day. I try to set eggs to hatch on a Friday night/ Saturday morning so I have time to take care of them. My ducklings are always very weak compared to chicks, the first 24 hours .
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I had Welsh Harlequin ducks 4 1/2 years and Dutch Hookbill after that a couple more. Momma duck would wait until she had a clutch of 10, even 12, before she began brooding. My understanding is, as long as the eggs are kept cool but not frozen and with adequate humidity, collect them until you are ready to set them in the incubator (something I have no experience with). Then you will need to turn them.
My drake lacked the advantage of coupling in water, although he tried. I now know a full trough would work, with ramp or earth to the lip, so I never had fertilized eggs.
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