Broody duck

[JenBBB]

Hi, so I'll start with the backstory, I wanted 3 ducks, 2 girls and 1 boy...I ended up with 2 boys and a girl, so I planned to add another girl. 4 ducks is very much my limit sue to space. Unfortunately we lost a boy to a fox in december so I got 2 sexed girls. One quacks, the other chirps so I'm thinking a mistake was made and now we have 2 girls and 2 boys. I thought ok I'll just have a girl side and a boys side.
We dont eat eggs so every few days I go and clean the bed and dispose of the eggs. The big ducks and baby ducks are separated with supervised meetings every day, it's getting better. It's been really bad weather lately so when the big ducks kept going in their house past couple of days i figured they were just cold. Until this morning my big girl refused to leave at all, turns out she has made a nest and wont get off it. I now have the choice of removing the nest and eggs but i read this will really upset her or i let them hatch and sell the babies? I dont know what to do for the best, it would be lovely to have babies but knowing we dont have the room I'm unsure of the best thing to do now?
Thanks for reading xx

 

[Callender Girl]

I understand your quandary. I would probably remove the eggs since you don't have the space for babies. You might be able to sell ducklings, but you might not, And, then what?

I freaked out a couple of years ago because one of my geese went broody, and I couldn't imagine what I would do with all those goslings. Luckily for me, it turned out the very protective "gander" who was helping protect the nest was another girl -- who also went broody. I had 18 unfertilized eggs by then.

But, I understand wanting to let your girl hatch. Ducklings are so very cute.

 

[SolarDuck]

We dont eat eggs so every few days I go and clean the bed and dispose of the eggs.

Don't throw away your eggs!! Give them to someone or cook them up and feed them back to the ducks.

 

[JenBBB]

Don't throw away your eggs!! Give them to someone or cook them up and feed them back to the ducks.

I didnt know you could feed the ducks their eggs, I'd live to give them to people but no one I know wants to eat duck eggs x

 

[JenBBB]

I understand your quandary. I would probably remove the eggs since you don't have the space for babies. You might be able to sell ducklings, but you might not, And, then what?

I freaked out a couple of years ago because one of my geese went broody, and I couldn't imagine what I would do with all those goslings. Luckily for me, it turned out the very protective "gander" who was helping protect the nest was another girl -- who also went broody. I had 18 unfertilized eggs by then.

But, I understand wanting to let your girl hatch. Ducklings are so very cute.

I've managed to get into the house and look in the nest and theres quite a few shes sitting on, is it possible to swap some for pretend eggs? X

 

[SolarDuck]

I didnt know you could feed the ducks their eggs, I'd live to give them to people but no one I know wants to eat duck eggs x

Feeding them back to the ducks is a fantastic way to get the nutrients right back into their systems. You can feed them the shells too!

 

[JenBBB]

Feeding them back to the ducks is a fantastic way to get the nutrients right back into their systems. You can feed them the shells too!

That's good to know for after my current predicament lol, do I hard boil or scramble etc? X

 

[SolarDuck]

That's good to know for after my current predicament lol, do I hard boil or scramble etc? X

Mine like em scrambled but hard boiled would work you might just have to cut them into small pieces. Some ducks will just eat them if you crack them right onto the ground without cooking them.

 

[KaleIAm]

I've managed to get into the house and look in the nest and theres quite a few shes sitting on, is it possible to swap some for pretend eggs? X

You could swap for pretend eggs, but then she might continue to sit on the eggs and try to incubate them for a few weeks. Usually when ducks are broody they don't eat as much and it can be hard on their bodies.

If she were my duck I would take her eggs away, and destroy her nest. She might feel upset about it, but over all I would be making this choice in her best interest. Then in the future I would not allow her to accumulate eggs. My ducks only go broody when they accumulate about 10 eggs.

Personally I would not hatch ducklings unless I could keep them all. I'm pretty sensitive, and get attached to them. I would be worried that they would get eaten when I sold them.

Of course, the choice is yours, but that is what I would do.

 

[JenBBB]

You could swap for pretend eggs, but then she might continue to sit on the eggs and try to incubate them for a few weeks. Usually when ducks are broody they don't eat as much and it can be hard on their bodies.

If she were my duck I would take her eggs away, and destroy her nest. She might feel upset about it, but over all I would be making this choice in her best interest. Then in the future I would not allow her to accumulate eggs. My ducks only go broody when they accumulate about 10 eggs.

Personally I would not hatch ducklings unless I could keep them all. I'm pretty sensitive, and get attached to them. I would be worried that they would get eaten when I sold them.

Of course, the choice is yours, but that is what I would do.

I feel like this is the best choice, I would love for her to hatch a couple but shes collected far more than we could manage. Will she be upset for long? X