Broody hen sitting on chicken AND duck eggs

[CurlyQuail]

My hen has gone broody and made it a habit of collecting eggs from other birds. I didn’t think she’d take duck eggs since the ducks usually lay in another coop but I checked on her today (about three days after she first went broody) and she has two runner duck eggs and one khaki egg.

Is it safe to let her keep sitting on them? I’m a little concerned with the time difference between the chicken eggs hatching and the duck eggs hatching and especially how the hen would care for the chicks while still sitting on eggs.

 

[sourland]

Hens generally leave the nest within 24-36 hours after the first chick hatches. It's likely that she will desert the duck eggs. Have a 'Plan B' if you want to hatch them.

 

[CurlyQuail]

Hens generally leave the nest within 24-36 hours after the first chick hatches. It's likely that she will desert the duck eggs. Have a 'Plan B' if you want to hatch them.

Thank you, would it be ok to move them to an incubator early or should I wait it out until she leaves them?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Move them at your convenience but before any of her eggs hatch. When the first ones hatch they can mess up the other eggs with hatching goop but they also have no hesitation about pooping on the eggs. It's not as bad as I make it sound but move them early so they stay clean.

To prevent her from collecting more eggs, which would be bad, mark the eggs under her. I use a black Sharpie. Then check under her each day after the others have laid for the day and remove any that don't belong. This avoids a staggered hatch where eggs can have widely different hatch days. That is stressful on the hen and stressful on you. You need to avoid a staggered hatch if you can.

 

[CurlyQuail]

Move them at your convenience but before any of her eggs hatch. When the first ones hatch they can mess up the other eggs with hatching goop but they also have no hesitation about pooping on the eggs. It's not as bad as I make it sound but move them early so they stay clean.

To prevent her from collecting more eggs, which would be bad, mark the eggs under her. I use a black Sharpie. Then check under her each day after the others have laid for the day and remove any that don't belong. This avoids a staggered hatch where eggs can have widely different hatch days. That is stressful on the hen and stressful on you. You need to avoid a staggered hatch if you can.

Thank you! I’ve already marked which eggs came from her but I’ll go mark the rest

 

[alleysrats]

I just had this happen with my Muscovy hen she hatched the chicken egg less than a week after that came some guineas then less than a week after that some ducklings Going to have some birds that think they are ducks.

 

[acpat]

Had a duck hatch a chicken. It sat in the middle of her back for 7 days and waited on the rest of its family