>>1549491I've put 95 eggs into incubators that's all. There are 34 ducklings out of the shell. 1 duckling died for unknown reasons after one a few days old. Success rate = food in my mouth, so it is pretty important to me. When some predator tries to get my food I tell them, "That's my sandwich!" When a bird dies it is, "wasted food." The farm is essentially a calorie economy in that respect.
>>1549495I'd call them up and find out before you make the trip. Also, "straight run," is normally around 50/50 (male/female) ratio. If you have sources locally from other farmers, that'd be much better. I find that the stores with bunches of chicks or ducks are typically terrible when it comes to knowing what breed they are. I had a small flock of Jumbo Cornish x Rock last season and a couple ended up being bantum leghorns. I've had similar results in previous years.