Duck sitting on eggs days after hatching 1 duckling

[SelfSufficientMe]

Is it normal duck behavior for a duck to hatch out only one duckling and attempt to hatch out more for days. The duckling is 5 days old.

I made the mistake of just letting three khaki Campbell ducks remain broody until they hatched out babies and the eggs are surely staggered. I’ve been collecting the new ones lately and recently put some in an incubator.

It has been a few months and only one duckling hatched and two ducks are caring for it but one is the primary caretaker and she continues to sit. The other duck sits some but is out and about much more often.

The third duck religiously sits on her small nest but no duckling yet. I don’t think she’s laying fertile eggs right now so I lm thinking about swiping a viable already developed egg and placing it in her nest. Do you think it might work? Will she accept the new egg?

Anyhow, this is the first time I’ve dealt with broody ducks. I’ve done broody chickens and ducks are much more aggressive

Any advice is appreciated. Thank you!

Side note: I also brought in some eggs that were a bit older but not in the nest to see if they’d incubate and there are three of them that have ducks moving in them already/late stage development. I was surprised to see movement. I guess the ducks booted them out of the nest. Anyone have luck hatching out a few and the rest of the eggs hatching out later?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

My biggest issue with my mallard derived ducks brooding is how easily they break or leave the nest when I'm nearby. You could definitely swap eggs out, but I'd be more nervous that they might stop brooding if they are scared off the nest.

 

[KathiQuacks]

It’s normal to sit for a few days, but 5 days..?

A few months broody?? If you have an egg / eggs near hatch, and your ducks don’t scare from the nest easily, go for it.
Otherwise, I’d break the broodiness completely and try again another time. Broodiness takes a lot out of hens and shouldn’t be prolonged like this.

 

[KathiQuacks]

My biggest issue with my mallard derived ducks brooding is how easily they break or leave the nest when I'm nearby. You could definitely swap eggs out, but I'd be more nervous that they might stop brooding if they are scared off the nest.

Spend more time with / near your duckies, if you can! Sit as close as you can to the broody house. When they’re off the nest, and if they approach you for food, start sprinkling treats around you / on you! Teaches them they can poke and prod at you all they’d like, and you won’t react to it - that it’s safe, and you’re safe.

Mine either don’t care, or if they do hop up, they return after about a minute. Never been bit, either, just hissed at.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Spend more time with / near your duckies, if you can! Sit as close as you can to the broody house. When they’re off the nest, and if they approach you for food, start sprinkling treats around you / on you! Teaches them they can poke and prod at you all they’d like, and you won’t react to it - that it’s safe, and you’re safe.

Mine either don’t care, or if they do hop up, they return after about a minute. Never been bit, either, just hissed at.

My female Swedish all have about an 18 inch barrier if I'm on the same side of the fencing as their nest. Any closer and they leave until I also leave. I can get much closer on the other side of the fence or if they know im just passing by. I just leave them to their own devices if I'm not trying to break them. I can mess with my buff and scovy nests as much as I need to, so those are the ones I spend my time focusing on.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

It’s normal to sit for a few days, but 5 days.

That's about how long my scovy sat after her duckling hatched. But I also kept feed and water within reach so baby and mama could eat what they needed while she tried to hatch out a second duckling

 

[SelfSufficientMe]

That's about how long my scovy sat after her duckling hatched. But I also kept feed and water within reach so baby and mama could eat what they needed while she tried to hatch out a second duckling

Ty. I have food and water nearby. I will check when I return home today to see how the both are doing. She has taken the duckling out and about in the yard for a bit but she always returns to the nest.

 

[SelfSufficientMe]

My female Swedish all have about an 18 inch barrier if I'm on the same side of the fencing as their nest. Any closer and they leave until I also leave. I can get much closer on the other side of the fence or if they know im just passing by. I just leave them to their own devices if I'm not trying to break them. I can mess with my buff and scovy nests as much as I need to, so those are the ones I spend my time focusing on.

When I lift the lid to the nesting box area, Momma duck scatters. When I lean in the other side to collect new eggs outside of the nest or to place food and water, she hisses. If I get too close she lunges with her head.

Next time she takes baby duckling out in the yard I’ll try my best to be around to grab the eggs. I agree with the post that she has been broody far too long. I have another incubator that I could set up.

 

[SelfSufficientMe]

Spend more time with / near your duckies, if you can! Sit as close as you can to the broody house. When they’re off the nest, and if they approach you for food, start sprinkling treats around you / on you! Teaches them they can poke and prod at you all they’d like, and you won’t react to it - that it’s safe, and you’re safe.

Mine either don’t care, or if they do hop up, they return after about a minute. Never been bit, either, just hissed at.

Thank you. I have 14 ducks right now. 3 adult khakis, 3 adult welsh harlequin, 6 teenage harlequins, a Drake harlequin, and the baby is a mix. They are all equally skiddish. And I give them treats lol. Idk. Chickens love me though

 

[SelfSufficientMe]

It’s normal to sit for a few days, but 5 days..?

A few months broody?? If you have an egg / eggs near hatch, and your ducks don’t scare from the nest easily, go for it.
Otherwise, I’d break the broodiness completely and try again another time. Broodiness takes a lot out of hens and shouldn’t be prolonged like this.

Thank you. I have another incubator I can use to try to salvage the eggs and I will work on breaking them if they do not do it on their own in the next few days. The third duck will definitely have to be broken immediately. She looks stressed. She separated herself from all of the others and has found her a nice hidey hole up in my lemon grass.