Broody Duck Questions

[Emmaxx]

Oh my goodness, just candled the two that I put in the incubator as 'dead or dying' and one has a heartbeat!! The other one looks like it has definitely died so I may have saved the other one just in time! should I try to pop it back in a nest or keep it in the incubator?

 

[CayugaJana]

31 eggs! Wow that was a huge nest. You have a hoarder there. If it were mine and the eggs all seem to be around the same gestation, I’d pop the egg back under Momma when she’s not around.

 

[Emmaxx]

31 eggs! Wow that was a huge nest. You have a hoarder there. If it were mine and the eggs all seem to be around the same gestation, I’d pop the egg back under Momma when she’s not around.

Thank you, I will give them a feel and check if she's managing to keep them all warm now I've thinned them out for her first.
Definitely a hoarder, even the ones I think she must have rejected she tucked in at the bottom, like she kicked them out of bed but rolled them underneath that or she's trying to collect other eggs but can't get them all the way up her mountain of a nest!!

 

[Emmaxx]

I think my favorite incubator egg has died
On the other end of the scale I'm pretty sure one of the others has internally pipped! (and I'm sure another is not far behind!)

As for what's going on outside, the girls are sitting strong! Wax crayon seems to be holding up although fading. When should I re-candle? Do I even need to candle again or just leave it now, at least until they are over due?

Whenever I go outside Bo (drake) is outside on his own and all three girls are inside. Still just the two on nests as I have been removing Johnny's eggs, and she quickly comes outside when she sees me. When I have managed to see her before she sees me she is sat nest to Crispin's nest. (This isn't where she has been laying her eggs) She looks like a visitor at someones bed side in the maternity ward

I am worried though....
1 - is there something I can do for Bo? I feel sorry for him being on his own most of the day
2 - Is Johnny either depressed that the other two have eggs and I keep stealing hers and/or could she be trying to hijack Crispin's nest? Are there any warning signs I need to look out for?

Thanks

 

[CayugaJana]

I think my favorite incubator egg has died
On the other end of the scale I'm pretty sure one of the others has internally pipped! (and I'm sure another is not far behind!)

As for what's going on outside, the girls are sitting strong! Wax crayon seems to be holding up although fading. When should I re-candle? Do I even need to candle again or just leave it now, at least until they are over due?

Whenever I go outside Bo (drake) is outside on his own and all three girls are inside. Still just the two on nests as I have been removing Johnny's eggs, and she quickly comes outside when she sees me. When I have managed to see her before she sees me she is sat nest to Crispin's nest. (This isn't where she has been laying her eggs) She looks like a visitor at someones bed side in the maternity ward

I am worried though....
1 - is there something I can do for Bo? I feel sorry for him being on his own most of the day
2 - Is Johnny either depressed that the other two have eggs and I keep stealing hers and/or could she be trying to hijack Crispin's nest? Are there any warning signs I need to look out for?

Thanks

If you give them a choice of where they want to be, and that’s where to choose I wouldn’t be too worried. They are a group animal. So they probably don’t want to be too far from their friends. Don’t feel bad about that. I’d be more worried about hatching out way too many babies than you can take care of.Duck math happens!

 

[Emmaxx]

If you give them a choice of where they want to be, and that’s where to choose I wouldn’t be too worried. They are a group animal. So they probably don’t want to be too far from their friends. Don’t feel bad about that. I’d be more worried about hatching out way too many babies than you can take care of.Duck math happens!

That's reassuring, thank you! I noticed Johnny once covering Crispin's nest up for her when she got off because she's quite frankly rubbish at it herself is this type of thing quite typical for ducks/birds in general? Maybe I should be thinking of her less as a visitor to the ward and more as a resident midwife
Do you think she might be quite attentive like that with ducklings?

Bo is certainly free to go in there too whenever he wants. Do you think it will cause any issues with umm.... unresolved libido, or will his hormones settle down if the girls are all off being broody and boring?

I'm hoping to sell most of the ducklings, and I'm having to rehome the ducks I have now, but I would like to keep two boys so duck math won't be a problem

 

[CayugaJana]

You have to rehome all of them?

 

[Emmaxx]

You have to rehome all of them?

Yes
There have been complaints about the noise to my housing association. I would keep Bo, but know it's not fair to keep him on his own, and it would be weeks before any of the eggs were hatched and old enough to live with him, if he even accepts it, so I feel it would be better for him to go with the girls too

 

[CayugaJana]

What kind of ducks and how many do you have?

 

[Emmaxx]

4 Black East Indies, 3 ducks, 1 drake