Exercise for broody duck

[digichix]

So I knew I would have more questions and hopefully there's an answer for this one. How can I entice my lovely muscovy off her nest now that she is sitting on her eggs? i don't think she has been outside in 5 days and the only way she was coming off was with her favorite treat, but I've been putting them in her bowl which is a few feet from her inside her coop, and now she isn't even eating them. I know they have to go out for some exercise, but how do you get them to do this? She is very protective and I don't want to upset her. Anyone have suggestions?

 

[Kevin565]

Maybe put some feeder fish in a Watering Pale for her to fish?

 

[Mum]

They don't need much exercise when they are broody. They also don't eat or drink as much as usual; this is all normal behaviour

Try not to fret over this.

 

[digichix]

Thanks for the help, but how do you candle the eggs to see if they are fertile without disturbing her and the nest? I will try the feeder fish, that sounds like something she might go for. Will she get mad if I go into her nest? She seems to trust me but her tail feathers go the whole time she is talking to me when I check on her and put her to sleep at night.

 

[Mum]

To candle the eggs (in the early days) you slip your hand under her and extract one at a time. She won't jump for joy, but she won't abandon them if you are only extracting one at a time (you could mark them with a number in pencil at the same time so you can recognise which you have and have not candled).

 

[sourland]

One problem with providing food right by the nest is that the brooding individual has one less reason to get up and leave the nest. This may result in the hen defecating in the nest and spoiling the clutch. Fowl have been brooding for thousands of years. It's how they have survived. The less intervention from humans the better off they are.