1st-time nesters... Now what?

[BReeder!]

Our Rouen ducks built a nest on the ground a few feet from their pond. All three of our females are laying eggs in the nest. Two days ago each laid an egg, all of which my wife collected. Yesterday they each laid an egg again, which we left seeing that they are adamant about laying eggs in their nest. We have a drake and I have seen signs of fertility in the form of the bullseye (I know there's a technical term...) on yolks of eggs we have cooked. I'm guessing and hoping that there ducks will brood the eggs once they fill the nest to their liking.

Now, that's where I am going to be lost. I have incubated eggs a few times, mostly quail but also a small batch of chicken eggs and a totally failed batch of turkey eggs. I have not used a broody bird of any kind to brood, hatch or raise hatchlings. I would like to give these natural way a go though.

I have some questions, but please feel free to share any advice you have.

The nest is outside the fence around the pond because I actually took it down and was rebuilding it. Should I move the nest or just postpone finishing the fence? I could put up a temporary fence with some silt fencing I have...

Should I seperate the drake and ducks?

There's a pair of younger but larger Pekins, once of which recently developed a drake feather. Should I seperate the Pekins? If not both, the young drake? No worries at all?

How many eggs are too many for a duck to effectively brood?

If I have to remove eggs when is the best time? After brooding starts? Wait a certain number of days after broodng starts?

Can I mark the eggs or will it disturb the process? I want to date each of then and later note the embryo and air sac progress if I candle.

We have a small dog. She's a Shi Tzu/ Poodle mix. She tends to avoid the ducks, which are actually larger than she is. However, is she likely to disturb the nesting/brooding process when she's out in the hard?

 

[chickens really]

You don't have a permanent Duck house and pen?
I would lock the Hens in until they lay each morning. Destroy the nest they have built outside and collect the eggs. A plastic dog crate works great as a duck nest. It can be easily moved.

 

[BReeder!]

You don't have a permanent Duck house and pen?
I would lock the Hens in until they lay each morning. Destroy the nest they have built outside and collect the eggs. A plastic dog crate works great as a duck nest. It can be easily moved.

I DO have a permanent duck house and pen. I am rebuilding the fence across the front of the pen though so I let the ducks have access to the lawn while working on it. We give then access to the lawn often anyway so they can forage a bit.
As for kicking then in, the duck hose wasn't built large enough for that. It would be crammed with 6 ducks suck in there all night. Our yard is fairly secure, and then the run is secured (except at the moment obviously). This lets us give the ducks constant access to the outdoors and their pond.

As for the nest... I have firmly decided to not destroy it. That said, I would be happy to build a structure around it if necessary. I really would like to see the ducks don their thing as naturally as possible. I am willing to work around them and secure the nest, I just need to know how.

 

[Miss Lydia]

You can fence her in but won’t she be in danger at night? I have taken my Muscovy females off the best 1x a day when they are brooding to make sure they eat drink an bathe since a few have refused. But they are secure at night. You def going to want to give mama and ducklings safety for a week or more to let the others get use to the newbies.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I don’t let my dachshunds around anything that peeps it brings out the prey drive.

 

[BReeder!]

The nest is filling up quickly with three eggs per day. I removed one broken egg the other day. There's must be at least a dozen eggs in there now, likely more. I am hoping to seeing some brooding action soon. I will section off the nest and brooding duck at the point with a silt fence and provide water and feed. There's not much in terms of predators (not saying there's none at all, but is a calculated risk I am willing to take) that will go after my ducks, I am mostly worried about the drake and the other ducks causing trouble.

On a less exciting note, I found another nest. I couldn't believe it. It was obviously older and they stopped laying there I am pretty sure. I destroyed it and had to toss all the eggs in it. There must have been 3 dozen eggs there. I thought the ducks just stopped laying for a while. Boy, was I wrong?! It was hidden under our outdoor quail hutch and I didn't ho over there much throughout the winter because there quail were moved into the garage.

After finding an abandoned nest like that, if this new nest doesnt see some brooding action by this weekend I may decide to destroy or attempt to section off a duck with the best to see if I can coax her to brood. What are your thoughts on that?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Can’t force them into it. They either have the hormones to brood or they don’t. You’ll just have to be patient. Mark all eggs so you can rotate out the oldest that way you keep the freshest in the nest for when one gets hit with the broody bug.

 

[corriemartin]

So basically, what you do is leave the eggs rather than gathering them, and see what they do? I'm hoping that my ducks will reproduce, but so far, I've been collecting all the eggs every morning (when they rush outside the moment I open their door). Do I keep doing that until someone shows signs of broodiness, or do I leave the eggs there in hopes that someone will BECOME broody???

 

[SolarDuck]

So basically, what you do is leave the eggs rather than gathering them, and see what they do? I'm hoping that my ducks will reproduce, but so far, I've been collecting all the eggs every morning (when they rush outside the moment I open their door). Do I keep doing that until someone shows signs of broodiness, or do I leave the eggs there in hopes that someone will BECOME broody???

Mine just go broody whether I collect the eggs or not

 

[corriemartin]

Mine just go broody whether I collect the eggs or not

Even if they just have one egg to sit on? Or do they continue laying eggs until they have a whole clutch?

And by "go broody", does that mean that they won't rush outside with the others, but instead stay in on their egg(s)?