Bad Mother Duck eating babies??! Help!

[jessylee]

How many eggs hatch out of 10 on average for you all? What do your mother ducks do with the ones that are weak or don't make it? I am still baffled by it all. She has since moved over to the other side of the coop and is sitting on 15 more eggs...I am not sure what to do, her sisters don't seem to want to go broody.

 

[Miss Lydia]

How many eggs hatch out of 10 on average for you all? What do your mother ducks do with the ones that are weak or don't make it? I am still baffled by it all. She has since moved over to the other side of the coop and is sitting on 15 more eggs...I am not sure what to do, her sisters don't seem to want to go broody.

You know that's up to you, now you can be ready to intervene if you notice something happening right off. Do you have plans for all 15 ducklings plus the ones you have now? best to think about this before you let her sit again. Or take some of the eggs out so she doesn't have such a large clutch. I limit how many eggs my first timers sit on so they aren't over whelmed and me too. Couple years ago my ducks had 8 only 4 hatched and one died the second day of hatching she just left it lay there till I found it that afternoon.

 

[SouthernPride]

Mine had one of her eggs break and she tossed it out of nest. She then ate some of the yolk. 2 days later she tossed out another that had started to pip and had zippered half way around with some shell removed. Duckling was still alive so I brought it into house and saw blood and quite a bit of yolk remaining. I put it in the incubator hoping it would finish developing. It was very vocal and would lift its head up and look at you. Momma duck knew this guy was hatching too soon and removed it from nest. 24 hours later and Duckling died.

 

[SouthernPride]

Smooshy has hatched 4, but she tossed another partially hatched egg last evening. It was moving so I popped it in the incubator. It hatched fully this morning and looks perfectly normal except one eye is closed. I will try a little warm water or saline and a Qtip to see if I can get it open. I guess there is no telling what goes on in their minds.

 

[Speceider]

I have no clue why she would still be on the nest days later...what of the ducklings which have hatched? For me, they hatch, if she does not leave the nest after 2 days I take the eggs, put them in the incubator after cancelling. Waiting for her will not end well.

Clint

 

[SouthernPride]

I took all eggs out of her nest, the were all bad anyway. I got the eye for this newest hatchling. I'm going to try to give it back to Smooshy. Hope she takes it, I think she will.

 

[Onlyducks]

It's hard to say why ducks do such things. Her being stressed does not have to be by you. I could never raise rabbits in my yard because of the coyotes. No matter how I fenced and protected the rabbits, they knew there were predators and killed and ate the babies. Something may be out there.

I throw crushed eggshells out in my garden. Sometimes the ducks eat those. I read somewhere that they do this for the minerals so I didn't worry about it.