Ducks sharing a nest of eggs? More questions about my broody duck(s)

[Silkiesaz]

I have a quite long story for y'all. My duck Nugget went broody weeks ago, she is incubating my other duck Darkwing's eggs. Nugget is a Muscovy Crested Duck cross, Darkwing is a Cayuga. I don't have a drake so none of the eggs are fertilized. I gave Nugget some chicken eggs a few days ago hoping she will hatch them. Darkwing kicks Nugget out of the nest every morning so she can lay her egg in it. Then she sits on the chicken eggs for about 20 minutes gets off and goes about her day. My first question is will the eggs still hatch? Nugget is very defensive of her eggs and has left marks on my hands and feet for biting me, so my second question is will she be a great mother or a terrible mother? Or will I have to figure that out on my own. Today Darkwing sat on the nest twice the first time I kicked her out the second time I left her, she has been sitting for hours, she already layed her egg. My third question is could they be sharing the nest? Will they fight over the babies if the eggs hatch? Sorry about all the questions. Nugget goes broody every time she has eggs available. I feel like it isn't healthy for Nugget to sit on eggs so long! She has already been trying to incubate eggs for almost a month!

 

[Silkiesaz]

Any answers?

 

[Silkiesaz]

Darkwing got off the nest today. Nugget is still broody. Is it healthy for her or should I break her broodiness?

 

[Yardmom]

I have had ducks share a nest. It did not work for them. None of the eggs hatched. They also moved the nest around. Maybe why they didn't hatch. I took the eggs, and they joined with two others who were raising ducklings already. Normally I fence around a broody duck to keep others from laying in the nest. Since my ducks lay in the morning I open the fences late morning to let the broodies take there own breaks.
You won't know what type a mother a duck will make unless she is left to raise ducklings (or chicks). Letting hatch the chicks could break her broodiness. You should still remove the duck eggs. Is there a reason you were not picking the duck eggs even though they were not fertile? Any time you leave eggs out by ducks it encourages broodiness.

 

[Silkiesaz]

I have had ducks share a nest. It did not work for them. None of the eggs hatched. They also moved the nest around. Maybe why they didn't hatch. I took the eggs, and they joined with two others who were raising ducklings already. Normally I fence around a broody duck to keep others from laying in the nest. Since my ducks lay in the morning I open the fences late morning to let the broodies take there own breaks.
You won't know what type a mother a duck will make unless she is left to raise ducklings (or chicks). Letting hatch the chicks could break her broodiness. You should still remove the duck eggs. Is there a reason you were not picking the duck eggs even though they were not fertile? Any time you leave eggs out by ducks it encourages broodiness.

Thanks for the advice. I broke one ducks broodiness so only one has eggs now. I removed the duck eggs and left her chicken eggs under her.