My friend has a farm and a whole flock of Runners fenced in with a house and a pond. They practically live on the pond swimming all day. I guess each case could be different.Thank you. She's in a routine where about twice a day she runs off the nest, eats and drinks and bathes in a paddling pool of water (she's a runner they don't really like deep water). Then she seems happy to stay on her nest all day (whilst the other 7 go around in a group outside). Sometimes one of the others sits with her but mainly she seems OK to sit on her own.
This last clutch has got her into the routine so she might manage to hatch a clutch if she keeps this up. But I'm just concerned that when hens and ducks brood they lose weight and nutrients and it exhausts them....