Crazy duck - is she in over her head?

[Tater n Beans]

I currently have a duck sitting on a ton of eggs because all the other 7 ducks lay their eggs in the nest when she's off them, or lay their eggs on the ground around the nest when she's on them, and she happily incorporates them into the pile.

My question is, how many eggs can she sit on?....she is currently sitting on about 30, lol, but this morning there were several around the nest because she cant fit anymore in it.

What can I do to help my poor momma duck?

She's sitting on the eggs all but about 20 min in the morning when we feed everyone and refresh the pools.

With so many eggs, is there a chance that any will hatch?....we haven't candled them because her nest is under the raised chicken coop and kind of hard to get to.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[katharinad]

This may sound hard to do, because you do have to creep under the hen house. She is over her incubation limit in my point of view. I would get an incubator and take at least half away. I would candle a take similar looking ones, since the others keep on donating eggs daily. That way they can go into lockdown at the same time. Ducks love community nests. So you end up with one broody duck and the rest being out having a good time. Go figure.