Broody duck in August...

[JJchiknshak]

My call duck has decided it's time to go broody... yet again.
My drake is a young Chocolate runner. He is super nice, and has been seen breeding my call duck. The eggs she is sitting on are all hers so, obviously the mix would be call/runner.

(Anyone have any pics of that mix?)

My question is, do you think it's too late in the year to let her hatch out the eggs? She's been on them for only a day, so taking them away is no biggie... except she's HOSTILE. I live in the northern Panhandle of WV.

Just to see if there is any interest in this area, I put an ad on CL to see if people may want a duckling at this time of year.

 

[Wifezilla]

Your weather is mild enough that it shouldn't be a huge deal. In my opinion it makes sense to get a fall duck since it takes them until spring to start laying anyway.

 

[katharinad]

I would take the eggs away, because you guys get plenty of show out there. BTW love WV, almost settled there. So lets do the math. They should hatch on the end of September, and are feathered in by the end of November. They do not have many downs at that time, which needs usually anther month. They should have 2-3 month of outdoor running around time to build strong muscles and perhaps some fat reserve to keep them warm. So in reality we are ready for winter about end of December. Yes, you will have a head start for next year, but then you have to ask do you rely on those eggs or do you have enough livestock to cover you anyway.

 

[JJchiknshak]

We love it here.
I actually have had 3 people e-mail me cause they are interested in getting more ducks.

She's not actually sitting on them yet... I thought she was. Apparently I just caught her after laying.
She's still adding to the nest at this point.