So, I own three chickens and three ducks.
My ducks are Cayugas; one drake and two hens. One of my hens is sitting on 8 eggs.
The ducks and chickens all grew up together. Everyone gets along just fine.
Everybody free ranges around our backyard and my expecting mother duck is sitting out of the way on her own. She's not blocked off from the others, and the other ducks and chickens can walk over to her if they want, and she has free range to hop up, stretch, and go take a walk and eat when she needs to. She's not remotely bothered if any of them come around her nest and I often see my drake and her sister sitting quietly up there together.
So here is my issue:
My non-broody hen keeps trying to lay her eggs in her sister's nest. Mama seems to be having none of it as I have discovered several broken and eaten eggs, but the same 8 she's originally claimed for hatching remain intact and well cared for.
Unfortunately now I have a mess in her nest with yolk smeared on it and some of the eggs because they were broken and eaten on the nest.
Should I block her off and keep her friends from visiting for the rest of her nesting time? Should I clean off her eggs of the yolk covering them? If so, how should I do that so I do not accidently harm the eggs or remove the special film covering them that keeps out bacteria?
My ducks are Cayugas; one drake and two hens. One of my hens is sitting on 8 eggs.
The ducks and chickens all grew up together. Everyone gets along just fine.
Everybody free ranges around our backyard and my expecting mother duck is sitting out of the way on her own. She's not blocked off from the others, and the other ducks and chickens can walk over to her if they want, and she has free range to hop up, stretch, and go take a walk and eat when she needs to. She's not remotely bothered if any of them come around her nest and I often see my drake and her sister sitting quietly up there together.
So here is my issue:
My non-broody hen keeps trying to lay her eggs in her sister's nest. Mama seems to be having none of it as I have discovered several broken and eaten eggs, but the same 8 she's originally claimed for hatching remain intact and well cared for.
Unfortunately now I have a mess in her nest with yolk smeared on it and some of the eggs because they were broken and eaten on the nest.
Should I block her off and keep her friends from visiting for the rest of her nesting time? Should I clean off her eggs of the yolk covering them? If so, how should I do that so I do not accidently harm the eggs or remove the special film covering them that keeps out bacteria?
