Broody Ducks with TONS of eggs!!!!

[AnniesEggFarm]

Hello All....

I have about 18 female ducks, pekins, runners, Kahkis, swedish & cayugas. Well, I have 2 VERY large nests going with a cayuga faithfully sitting on one nest (covered to her head in feathers and bedding) & another communal nest that a pekin, a runner or two are sharing. I have gone back and forth on candling because I have candled nests before and every time I do they seem to lose interest and stop sitting, but the nests are in the middle of a large hen house shared with hens and guineas, at some point I wanted to in close the nest when it came to hatching to protect the ducklings from the large group of mixed adults. Well, when I candled today I found that I have eggs in every stage you can image!!!! My broody ducks have been letting the rest lay their eggs in the nests and now I have a VERY wide range of incubation periods! What should I do if anything??

Jenn

 

[Wifezilla]

Yikes!!!

Do you have an incubator? What will most like happen is after a few hatch, mom will leave the nest with the new ducklings. If you had an incubator, you could then throw the eggs that are left in that and finish them out.

 

[NYREDS]

It's sometimes surprising how many eggs a duck can successfully hatch. I once had a Muscovey come off a nest with 28 ducklings.

 

[momof247371]

wow, do you know how many eggs there are for sure..I would try to put the rest in the incubator if she leaves them,, o nad when they hatch, WE want Pics