FERTILITY CHECK
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February 2023
TBD, stats soon
February 2022
TBD, Stats pending
February 24, 2021
Still getting 2 eggs from the breeders but now also getting 1 from the layer flock.
We are giving them a bit of time to thaw out and get
February 1, 2021
Our first 10 eggs are in the incubator to check fertility. We are currently getting 2 eggs a day from the 5 ducks we call the "Breeder Flock". No eggs yet from the 10 girls in the "Layer Flock". The Texas Winter Storm hit us, so we stopped the process as we expected unstable incubator temperatures.
November 2020. Our girls just slowed down to a couple eggs a day due to the 100+ degree heat of central Texas. We will continue to put 7 in every week anyhow. I suspect there will also be less fertility due to the heat. The ducklings are getting sold in little runs as they get hatched. We are learning and experimenting with ways to increase our hatch rate.
Spring 2020 Fertility Check (10 of 10)
D-Day Run (10 of 10)
St. Jean Baptist (40 of 42)
6-14-2020 A Group (7/7)
6-21-2020 B Group (7/7)
6-28-2020 C Group (6/7)
2020 Q2 Average - 96% fertility
We resumed fertility runs with our current flock of 5 girls and one drake. Lieutenant Dan is doing his job. The girls are now producing their standard one a day just in time for spring.
Surplus drakes rehomed before we did additional runs.
A major lifestyle change had us reduce our flock. Productivity was affected with a change in situation for the ducks too. We are back in laying season.
7-19-19 - 10 eggs - thru 7-27-19 (9 days) - 80% fertile (8 of 10)
Broody Hen Competition 2019 - 80% fertility
2-18-19 - 10 eggs - thru 2-27-19 (10 days) - 60% fertile (6 of 10)
2-28-19 - 10 eggs - thru 3-9-19 (10 days) - 100% fertile (10 of 10)
3-14-19 - 10 eggs - thru 3-21-19 (7 days) - 100% fertile (10 of 10)
3-22-19 - 10 eggs - thru 3-29-19 (7 days) - 90% fertile (9 of 10)
3-31-19 - 20 eggs - thru 4-28-19 (28 days) - 85% fertile (17 of 20)
Average Winter/Spring 2019 - 86% fertility
We have a perfect little flock of 10 girls and two boys.
8-24-18 - 10 eggs - thru 8-31-18 (7 days) - 80% fertile (8 of 10)
9-3-18 - 12 eggs - thru 9-8-18 (5 days) - 66% fertile (8 of 12)
Average Fall 2018 - 73% fertility
3 surplus drakes re-homed September 2018
these surplus male ducklings were born in March 2018
matured to young drakes in late Mid-July 2018
8-24-18 We got our first little egg from the little gals.
7-21-18 - 10 eggs - thru 7-31-18 (10 days) - 50% fertile (5 of 10)
8-1-18 - 10 eggs - thru 8-7-18 (7 days) - 60% fertile (6 of 10)
8-8-18 - 10 eggs - thru 8-14-18 (10 days) - 70% fertile (7 of 10)
Average Summer 2018 - 60% fertility
4 surplus drakes re-homed thru March 2018
these surplus male ducklings were born June 2017
matured to young drakes in late September 2017
4-15-17 - 8 eggs - thru 5-18-18 - 75% fertile (6 of 8)
5-19-17 - 11 eggs - thru 6-5-18 - 82% fertile (9 of 11)
10-11-17 - 5 eggs - thru 11-8-18 - 60% fertile (3 of 5)
2-25-18 - 11 eggs - thru 3-26-18 - 91% fertile (10 of 11)
Average 2017-2018 : 77% fertility
We are not bringing fertility check runs to hatch completion
unless a reservation is secured with deposit payment.
High ratio of drakes vs. hens as well as stress from changes or over breeding can affect not only egg production but fertility. When you have too many drakes, the action of mating gets interrupted as there is fighting over who gets to do the deed, and the deed doesn't successfully complete. In addition, now the preferred girl that is being piled on is getting more injuries due to over-breeding. Both of these situations put together logically affect fertility also.
See Metzer farms article regarding reasons for low egg production:
