Broody duck?

[DuckWhisperer06]

Our Blue Swedish(Smokey) has been laying for almost a month, and our Pekin(Rosy) has been laying for a little longer. Earlier this morning I saw Smokey sitting on a few duck eggs and a couple of chicken eggs in her little nesting area but as soon as she saw me she stood up. She stood for about a minute then walked away from her nest.

Is she going broody?(I think that’s what it’s called)

I’ve heard that they won’t sit on the eggs unless they have more than a few so it’s worth their time sitting on them, but in this case I’m not sure since there were only 2 duck eggs(1 was Smokey’s and 1 was Rosy’s) and a handful of chicken eggs.

None of our hens have shown any signs of brooding but they’ll sit on the eggs for about a minute or two then walk away.

 

[chickens really]

Not Broody. Why are you not collecting all your eggs daily?

 

[DuckWhisperer06]

I do collect the eggs on a daily basis but most of our birds lay in the morning.

 

[sylviethecochin]

She's probably thinking about it. My Blue Swedish all go broody. Classic signs:
Deeper voice
Constant reaching over her shoulder and pecking at the ground
Actually nesting, instead of just dumping eggs where she sits.

Does she do this?

 

[Fluffnut]

If she was still on the eggs she might have just laid one and still be thinking about it. When hens are broody they sit flat like a pancake and make a low growling noise when you get too close. I don't know if ducks growl but chickens do!
Make sure she doesn't develop the habit of sleeping in the nesting box, but I wouldn't worry about that unless you catch her at it.

 

[chickens really]

Duck hens go all alligator and hiss with necks out...

 

[sylviethecochin]

If she was still on the eggs she might have just laid one and still be thinking about it.

Ducks don't really do that, IME. I've seen ducks walk past me, pause as though they're going to poop, lay an egg, and keep walking. They'll lay eggs in water. I heard from my dad that he'd seen a Mallard lay in flight. As such, sleeping in the nesting box isn't really a worry.

I don't know if ducks growl but chickens do!

They growl. And bite.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I agree at least giving it some thought lol. Keep a close eye and if you can mark the eggs and take out any that are chicken eggs if you have any in there. I use a permanent marker and just put the date on mine then I can take our oldest eggs and I can decide how many to let my girls sit since they really like large clutches.

 

[DuckWhisperer06]

If she was still on the eggs she might have just laid one and still be thinking about it. When hens are broody they sit flat like a pancake and make a low growling noise when you get too close. I don't know if ducks growl but chickens do!
Make sure she doesn't develop the habit of sleeping in the nesting box, but I wouldn't worry about that unless you catch her at it.

Our hens will hiss at us whenever we even go near the coop as long as they’re in the nesting area, but the ducks haven’t done anything like that yet.

 

[DuckWhisperer06]

She's probably thinking about it. My Blue Swedish all go broody. Classic signs:
Deeper voice
Constant reaching over her shoulder and pecking at the ground
Actually nesting, instead of just dumping eggs where she sits.

Does she do this?

I’ve noticed that her voice has gotten deeper within the last month but she hasn’t really nested much.