Favorite Duck went broody...

[DoodlesDuckies]

AND SHE LOOKS ROUGH! She decided to make her nest outside of the fenced area. Her behavior has been odd to me...and I didn't realize this broody thing is a process. It is not a quick light switch. It started with me noticing I was missing an egg from the hut. I found her stash in the tree line. She is a VERY social little duck- the loudest quack, the first to run for mealworms and the first to come running when I get home from work. She just has a sweet personality-well she "did". I noticed she was disappearing off and on. More distant from the flock, and me. Last weekend I thought I lost her but found her on the nest and she hissed at me, was fluffed up and VERY still. She must be molting and/or pulling her feathers out. She looks rough. Her sweet attitude is GONE. She runs around fluffed up, mouth wide open making an odd noise and last night was the first night she stayed on her nest. Did not come out for night time mealworms. She was by the hut this morning, gobbled down food and took off again.

Should I put food/water near her? Makes me nervous, don't want to attract other animals.

Will I ever get my cheery Tilly back or will motherhood ruin her ( you know like the rest of us.... -kidding JUST KIDDING!)

Thanks
Renee

 

[KathiQuacks]

That attitude change is 100% normal. Puffed up, head pulled in, mouth open, complaining loud, tail wagging.. They pull out their downy feathers and use them to build their nest. They’ll huff, hiss, quack, maybe even lunge and bite, when approaching their nest.
My friendliest hen has gone broody, too, and she’s also the most upset with me approaching. Mouth open as wide as can be, quacking. Absolutely fuming. Very upset with the other ducks, too.

She shouldn’t need additional food / water. She’ll come up to eat, drink, bathe, poop, etc. when needed, and then return to her nest.

You may consider removing her current nest, though, since it’s outside the fence, and letting her build a new nest closer to home.

 

[DoodlesDuckies]

That attitude change is 100% normal. Puffed up, head pulled in, mouth open, complaining loud, tail wagging.. They pull out their downy feathers and use them to build their nest. They’ll huff, hiss, quack, maybe even lunge and bite, when approaching their nest.
My friendliest hen has gone broody, too, and she’s also the most upset with me approaching. Mouth open as wide as can be, quacking. Absolutely fuming. Very upset with the other ducks, too.

She shouldn’t need additional food / water. She’ll come up to eat, drink, bathe, poop, etc. when needed, and then return to her nest.

You may consider removing her current nest, though, since it’s outside the fence, and letting her build a new nest closer to home.

Like taking away all her 14 eggs and making her start over? Or moving the eggs and let her do her thing?

 

[KathiQuacks]

Like taking away all her 14 eggs and making her start over? Or moving the eggs and let her do her thing?

Possibly starting over.. You could attempt to move them, but she may not accept them. Assuming you have predators there, it could be dangerous for her to continue without shelter.

 

[DoodlesDuckies]

Possibly starting over.. You could attempt to move them, but she may not accept them. Assuming you have predators there, it could be dangerous for her to continue without shelter.

This morning she came out of the tree line with an egg on her beak. 3 of the egg shells are near the nest. If something ate the eggs I assume they all would be gone. She may be kicking out the bad eggs?

I think I am going to remove all the eggs tonight and flatten the nest. It breaks my heart but probably the right thing to do and hopefully she nests in a better spot. She has always laid her eggs in bushes and tree lines and not in the hut shelter like everyone else.

Will she snap out of this "crazy" she has going on or will it just continue until she has another nest?

We live in the middle of farm fields with thin tree lines. Honestly, we don't even have a squirrel or rabbit on our property. LOL! But that doesn't mean we don't have things wandering through the area that could hurt the flock.