Duck made her nest outside the duck house

[BChildress]

So my Pekin is sitting on a clutch in a nest she made about 60ft from the duck house. Have confirmed fertilized eggs so, ducklings incoming...

However, a racoon has recently gotten into the nest. It's destroyed a couple of eggs so far.

Can I relocate the nest and momma duck into the duck house? Or should I collect the eggs and put them in an incubator? If I take her eggs from her, will she accept the ducklings once hatched?

Any advice greatly appreciated, and apologies if this has been addressed before.

 

[Ridgerunner]

@JacinLarkwell You have a lot more experience with ducks than I do.

My instincts on this are to incubate the eggs yourself as I'd expect the raccoon to come back. The mother duck is in danger, not just the other eggs. I'd expect the duck to break from being broody if you take the eggs and incubate them so, no, she will not accept the ducklings.

How far off base am I?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

She likely won't accept the ducklings if you take the eggs. You need to move her though, it's only a matter of time before the raccoon goes after her. You might be able to move her nest and have her stay brooding, but I haven't had luck with that before

 

[BChildress]

If I remove the eggs, my intention was to secure the mother duck in the duck house at night. That way, both her and the eggs would be safe.

Since she'll probably not accept them afterwards, I'll just raise them in a brooder until they're old enough to be introduced to the flock.

 

[BChildress]

So I'm weighing the options of getting an incubator (and possibly losing the clutch, since I'm a total noob) or building a temporary enclosure around the duck and her nest...