Broody Barbe - 2 Questions....

[Andrea PNW]

Hi there duck fam - I am experiencing my first broody hen and have a couple of questions that I am hoping for insight on .... w/two bits of important details to keep in mind - 1. she's a cayuga and is about 11months old 2. I absolutely have no intention on hatching ducklings. My ducks are just pets and I 100% don't want to deal with rehoming drakes

Okay, now for my questions:

1. Is it totally normal that she's gone broody over ONE egg? It's only been a couple of days but I've always retrieved her eggs every single day. She came out last night to eat some treats while i changed the water and food in the duck house and I grabbed the one egg she was sitting on. This morning she was being all broody again and hasn't come out but i imagine she's not sitting on any eggs right? Everything I read says they don't lay when they are broody... so confused. Even if she was - it would be just one egg.

2. Her man Ruthie is roaming around listlessly cuz he's by himself since she won't come out. I imagine this is normal and I just let him do his thing? He heads out of the duck house, takes a bath, walks around the yard, checks in on her, naps somewhere random, goes back to check on her, rinse repeat. He's been totally fine towards Barbe during her two days of "laying in" so that's good. I feel bad for him - but he's kind of a jackass too so I don't feel TOOOOOO bad. I'm just not sure if i should be providing him with some kind of emotional support while I work on breaking her brood (by removing her eggs).

Thank you in advance for your thoughts!!

AC

 

[fatty and friends]

just take the eggs and she will stop, my ducks have never gone broody because i take the eggs every morning (my ducks are pets too, we don’t eat the eggs)

 

[KaleIAm]

My Pigweed just went broody a couple days ago, too. It is so funny because in the past my ducks have only gone broody when I accidentally let the eggs accumulate to 8+. But this time Pig has one egg. Just one. Maybe it is these crazy long days? She's not super committed to her broodiness, I must say. She'll come off anytime I call her for a good forage walk. But she spends all night on the nest, most of the day, shouts at me in her grumpy voice, and put feathers all in the nest.

It is kind of adorable, but I'm going to remove the egg while my partner is supervising her foraging tonight. I'll destroy and compost the nest. I think I'll leave that corner completely bare with no bedding at all. She'll be sad, but it is in her best interest. I'll give her some consolation mealworms and swim time.

I'm not sure about Ruthie, probably getting Barbe back to normal would make him happiest.

Let us know how it goes!

 

[Andrea PNW]

My Pigweed just went broody a couple days ago, too. It is so funny because in the past my ducks have only gone broody when I accidentally let the eggs accumulate to 8+. But this time Pig has one egg. Just one. Maybe it is these crazy long days? She's not super committed to her broodiness, I must say. She'll come off anytime I call her for a good forage walk. But she spends all night on the nest, most of the day, shouts at me in her grumpy voice, and put feathers all in the nest.

It is kind of adorable, but I'm going to remove the egg while my partner is supervising her foraging tonight. I'll destroy and compost the nest. I think I'll leave that corner completely bare with no bedding at all. She'll be sad, but it is in her best interest. I'll give her some consolation mealworms and swim time.

I'm not sure about Ruthie, probably getting Barbe back to normal would make him happiest.

Let us know how it goes!

Can I ask how you came up with that awesome name?

 

[shawluvsbirds]

Hi there duck fam - I am experiencing my first broody hen and have a couple of questions that I am hoping for insight on .... w/two bits of important details to keep in mind - 1. she's a cayuga and is about 11months old 2. I absolutely have no intention on hatching ducklings. My ducks are just pets and I 100% don't want to deal with rehoming drakes

Okay, now for my questions:

1. Is it totally normal that she's gone broody over ONE egg? It's only been a couple of days but I've always retrieved her eggs every single day. She came out last night to eat some treats while i changed the water and food in the duck house and I grabbed the one egg she was sitting on. This morning she was being all broody again and hasn't come out but i imagine she's not sitting on any eggs right? Everything I read says they don't lay when they are broody... so confused. Even if she was - it would be just one egg.

2. Her man Ruthie is roaming around listlessly cuz he's by himself since she won't come out. I imagine this is normal and I just let him do his thing? He heads out of the duck house, takes a bath, walks around the yard, checks in on her, naps somewhere random, goes back to check on her, rinse repeat. He's been totally fine towards Barbe during her two days of "laying in" so that's good. I feel bad for him - but he's kind of a jackass too so I don't feel TOOOOOO bad. I'm just not sure if i should be providing him with some kind of emotional support while I work on breaking her brood (by removing her eggs).

Thank you in advance for your thoughts!!

AC

They can go broody sitting on a dozen eggs, one egg or nothing at all. Usually mine will stop laying if they are broody but not necessarily. Keep checking for eggs and tear that nest up every day.
Your drake needs more girlfriends to keep him occupied.
That may be one reason she wants to sit to have a break from him.

 

[Andrea PNW]

They can go broody sitting on a dozen eggs, one egg or nothing at all. Usually mine will stop laying if they are broody but not necessarily. Keep checking for eggs and tear that nest up every day.
Your drake needs more girlfriends to keep him occupied.
That may be one reason she wants to sit to have a break from him.

Ooooooh - I hadn't thought of that. He's only nice to Barbe though. The other ladies he's so violent rapey with and they are terrified of him so I have to keep him away from them. I've got a lead on a new home for him tho with someone with a lot of hens and much more experience with drakes overall.

 

[shawluvsbirds]

Ooooooh - I hadn't thought of that. He's only nice to Barbe though. The other ladies he's so violent rapey with and they are terrified of him so I have to keep him away from them. I've got a lead on a new home for him tho with someone with a lot of hens and much more experience with drakes overall.

Sometimes you have to pen up a drake during the height of breeding season if your girls are being harassed and harmed. They can be rough on the girls but it's just what they do.

 

[KaleIAm]

Can I ask how you came up with that awesome name?

An opportunity to gush about my ducks? Absolutely!!

I wanted to name my ducks after native plants. But one of my ducklings was such a little pig! She ate way more than the others, climbed over them to get to the food, tasted poop 15 times in a row just in case it was food, and became tame quickly because I was holding snacks. I complained that this little duckling was ruining my plans because her name was clearly Pig!

Then my partner reminded me that we have a plant called pigweed. So my ducks became Clover, Pigweed, Thimbleberry, Nettle, and Plantain.

Pigweed still divebombs the food bowl, 6.5 years later. She runs and even flies to me when I call her for mealworms. She's a total pig!

... She has finally stopped tasting poop.

 

[Andrea PNW]

An opportunity to gush about my ducks? Absolutely!!

I wanted to name my ducks after native plants. But one of my ducklings was such a little pig! She ate way more than the others, climbed over them to get to the food, tasted poop 15 times in a row just in case it was food, and became tame quickly because I was holding snacks. I complained that this little duckling was ruining my plans because her name was clearly Pig!

Then my partner reminded me that we have a plant called pigweed. So my ducks became Clover, Pigweed, Thimbleberry, Nettle, and Plantain.

Pigweed still divebombs the food bowl, 6.5 years later. She runs and even flies to me when I call her for mealworms. She's a total pig!

... She has finally stopped tasting poop.

Swoooooon! That's so great