Charleston we have a Broody here!

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Hi friends,

it looks like my one year old Indian Runner Lady "Katharina" is broody: I noticed last Sunday that she spent almost the entire day inside the duck house and on Monday morning she was sitting on two eggs which she viciously and loudly defended. Since then she spends most of her time sitting like that:

Only one problem: Monday there were two eggs in that nest, today there are nine!

As i don't know which were the eggs from Monday and which of the additional eggs have been laid by Katharina and which were laid by other ducks, i snuck in to the house while Katy took a quick bath and drew a blue "X" on the shell of all nine eggs.

This way i will be able to identify any new eggs and can remove those.
As i have neither had a broody duck before nor have i ever hatched my own ducks eggs i have a lot of questions:

• What is the usual size of a duck's clutch? Nine eggs looks like a lot to me…
• Isn't it a little late for broody ducks to hatch ducklings?
• Should i candle the eggs? - I never candled any egg, but maybe a Momma duck knows which eggs are good and which are bad?

And there will be more questions for sure. Thank you all very much in advance for your help.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

This is Katharina taking a quick bath today:

 

[Texag87]

Good luck. We might let our K/C brood when we get our new place. She has been wanting to brood for a couple months.

 

[DuckyDonna]

@WVduckchick can give you the run down on everything. If she's just started sitting on the eggs I doubt you'd see anything if you candled yet. In an incubator, it takes about 5 days to see anything happening. But I've only done the incubator thing and know nothing about a "real" duck hatch!

 

[Miss Lydia]

I've seen life on day 4 from under a broody.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/first-time-hatching-attempt-any-advice.1322407/page-2

good pics of day 4-5 when candling. Post 16

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Morning update: I sneaked in to the duck house when Katharina Duck was busy with meal-worms and cat-food and found another three new eggs, which i removed just before an angry quacking tornado stormed back into the house…

 

[WVduckchick]

If she is already staying close to the nest most of the time (especially overnight) then she has enough eggs. Ducks usually keep laying until they feel like it’s a big enough clutch, so overnight sitting is usually how I gage how many, then start clearing out extras.

I had a call duck on 33 eggs, I removed the excess down to 15. Depending on the amount of bedding, they can cover more than you think. But if you are going to let some hatch, I’d suggest leaving them until you can candle, then remove clear ones and quitters.

She’s a beauty. Can’t wait to see how this goes. I’ll be along for the ride if you need me. Somehow I ended up with excessively broody breeds of chickens, and I’ve been thru it quite a few times with ducks too.

Don’t be surprised if one of her sisters joins her too.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Thank you very much in advance for your offer to support me!
She is not staying close to the nest, she is sitting on the eggs day and night. Only for very few moments in the morning, when she comes out with the others for meal-worms, the brief time it takes her to take a bath when i fill up the rubber bowls with cold water and in the evening when i bring the other ducks in with the supper-bowl she leaves her nest.

Her sisters must have joined her already with laying, on Monday there were just two eggs, yesterday there were nine and she won't lay more than one egg a day, so at least two eggs must be a surprise from somebody else.
I have never candled eggs before, so i will attempt some tires on other eggs tonight before i - yeah! I have no idea how i could get to her eggs to candle them without being beaten and mauled to death… She is not even leaving her nest when my wife feeds the other ducks with meal-worms/cat-food.
Is it possible to candle eggs in daylight? There is a small window of opportunity in the morning while she is busy with breakfast and her morning shower. Other than that i am afraid of her.
What do ypou think about this:

Her nest is in the leftmost box and the idea is to fence of the bedroom between those two posts, leaving the second bedroom and the living/dining room for the other ducks, once the ducklings have hatched, so that the other ducks cannot harm the ducklings. Especially "Erpelchen", the BO drake has turned into a bully and has to be hosed down three to five times a day.
Of course they will get food and water in there. Would that be sufficient for the first time?

 

[Texag87]

It has to be very dark to candle. If you plan on doing it in the duck house, it’s going to have to be before daylight.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

It has to be very dark to candle. If you plan on doing it in the duck house, it’s going to have to be before daylight.

I would very likely not survive this! Katy is charging at me if i come closer than ½ meter and she can bite! I guess i leave that to her then…