Broody duck on failed nest

[hfchristy]

I have a would-be-mama duck sitting on a nest of infertile eggs. There was one developing egg in there the last time I was able to candle two weeks ago. They're past 4 weeks now so I was a little more intrusive today and when I peeked in, I realized there was one egg not under her and grabbed it. It definitely looks like it was once a viable egg, so that means she's sitting on 8 empties now.
Do ducks only kick out dead eggs and not empty ones? What do I do now? I removed the privacy screen I set up for her so that it's a little less hospitable and her friend who was sitting with her took off to join the others - but broody #1 is still hunkering down on her nest.
We added a little patio for them in case the egg did hatch while we were on vacation last week so they could have their own food & water and be separate from the other ducks, but that unfortunately makes it really tough to reach her or the nest now.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I had one hunker down under the roost bar with a ladder in front of her I had to take the 4 prong garden tool to pull her out. Then I tore up the nest and laid something over where the nest was so she wouldn't like what was in her nest. I also have one that had her eggs taken away weeks ago that is still sitting and I just leave her alone because I don't have to worry about nasty eggs exploding and she comes out every day to eat drink and poop.
I've had mine get rid of an egg that wasn't viable but I have also had them sit on eggs that aren't viable too. Best thing to do is try and get to the eggs so you can candle. But I'd handle very gently an exploding duck egg is very nasty.

 

[sourland]

If you are POSITIVE about the duration of setting, I would follow the example of @Miss Lydia in order to break her broodiness.

 

[Percipen]

This year is my first experience with a broody duck. She has yet to hatch her own eggs bc she kicks the eggs out a couple days before they're due to hatch...i put them in the incubator if I see veins and there are 3 that hatched in the last week and 2 more that will prob hatch tomorrow or tuesday. I'm not really sure what her reasoning for kicking them out at that stage is... my takeaway is that theres no rhyme or reason (to us at least) of why they kick them out of the nest

 

[hfchristy]

If you are POSITIVE about the duration of setting, I would follow the example of @Miss Lydia in order to break her broodiness.

I'm not positive about the duration, but I *am* positive that there was only one fertile egg in there. The boys have been far too aggressive with the smaller ladies, so I had been separating them for months. One of the two small girls got all broody fluffed up looking and ran off to the boys cage demanding to see them, so I let her stay out with them. She laid one more egg after that, then started sitting in earnest. That was back when I could still teach the eggs, and we didn't have anymore show up in the nest later. Still all clear except one at two weeks. After that we replaced that door with their food porch and can't get in there anymore. I think we're going to have to do a bit of construction to reinstall the door before we can get to her!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Always something when you have animals.

I had a mature muscovy carry a duckling out of her nest and lay her on the walkway. still had a week to go before hatch. Never did figure out how the little one was completely out of the eggshell and no shell anywhere, of course, the other birds may have eaten it. The duckling was fully formed just not ready to hatch. No idea what that was about.

 

[hfchristy]

We finally got the broody food/water patio off the house and were able to access the nest. Totally destroyed their nest, sifted through all the bedding, but still came up an egg short. What the heck? Where could it have gone?

The ducks have adjusted pretty well to the idea that the eggs are gone and went for a long bath/walk this afternoon, but the main broody one (duck #2 seemes mostly in it to keep the other one company) is insistent that she MUST see the boys. They're not likely to start laying again at this time of year, right? She seems determined to be a momma, but I just don't think it's gonna happen!