female not sitting?

[j-duck]

So should she actually stay on the nest the whole time one she starts sitting round the clock? I have a duck pen. I can move her nest into their house. Will she follow her nest or will I need to show her where it is? Thanks so much for the advice. Also - I have 6 eggs this morning and another without a shell not near the nest.

 

[Miss Lydia]

So should she actually stay on the nest the whole time one she starts sitting round the clock? I have a duck pen. I can move her nest into their house. Will she follow her nest or will I need to show her where it is? Thanks so much for the advice. Also - I have 6 eggs this morning and another without a shell not near the nest.

She won't stay on the nest the whole time she'll have to come off to eat, swim and poop. not necessarily in the order but when I say round the clock it means when she settles down to brooding she'll be on the nest much more than off, and she'll probably start sitting at night first then you'll notice she will be sitting during the day once you see her sitting except to come off to do the above then you mark your calendar. so since she has 6 eggs now she is building her clutch and won't get serious till she has the amount she is happy with. do you have more than one duck? that's probably where the shell less egg is coming from be sure to give them good quality feed with extra oyster shell on the side for calcium even if feeding layer some just need more calcium. When you move her you'll probably have to close her up for a couple of days till she gets use to her new sight, do you lock them up at night and she is going to this place in your flower bed in the morning to lay her egg? or are they not locked up at night? just trying to get an idea of your set up.

 

[j-duck]

I have a male and a female. Up until about a month ago, they were locked up at night and then they accidentally were left out and slept by the house in a flower bed off my back porch. They seemed so much happier out at night and come up on the back porch an wait at the door for us in the morning. I hate locking them up - but I will be so sad if something gets either of them. The flower bed she is laying in is right outside the duck house door - outside of my barn.
Now that she has so happily building her clutch and going through the act of covering and uncovering her eggs - I'm afraid ill upset her by moving it until she's through laying. Both ducks are 5 months old. I found 2 other eggs with shells - random deposits in the yard plus the one with no shell. She seems to lay her eggs at night. How large does a clutch usually get?

 

[j-duck]

 

[j-duck]

 

[Miss Lydia]

What cuties

Pekins always look like they are smiling

Nice nest.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have a male and a female. Up until about a month ago, they were locked up at night and then they accidentally were left out and slept by the house in a flower bed off my back porch. They seemed so much happier out at night and come up on the back porch an wait at the door for us in the morning. I hate locking them up - but I will be so sad if something gets either of them. The flower bed she is laying in is right outside the duck house door - outside of my barn.
Now that she has so happily building her clutch and going through the act of covering and uncovering her eggs - I'm afraid ill upset her by moving it until she's through laying. Both ducks are 5 months old. I found 2 other eggs with shells - random deposits in the yard plus the one with no shell. She seems to lay her eggs at night. How large does a clutch usually get?

I'll be very honest with you they are living on borrowed time not having a secure house to be locked up in, ducks are not that intelligent so they depend on us to make the best decision for them and one of those is to make sure they are safe. I don't know what part of the USA your in or even if you are but predators are everywhere and it will just be a matter of time before they find your un protected ducks. I will be so sad to see you come on here to tell us one or both are dead from an attack. We see it all the time. Since they are so young and she has just started laying they can have shell less eggs just getting the egg laying worked out. She may lay up to 15-20 eggs before she commits, If it was my duck and it would be hard to do but I'd take her nest and eggs and move them inside their house in a corner, where she will have some privacy then in the evening lock them up remove the rest of the nest and place something there so she can't go back to it, it's called tough love and you'll be glad you did. Either she'll continue to lay where you have placed her eggs or she'll find another place but if it's outside keep putting her eggs inside in the same place you made for her if she's laying at night she'll lay in the place you have made for her because she'll be lock up she won't have a choice, they are very young and she may not even go broody since she is very young yet.

 

[j-duck]

The ducks do have a 15'L x 6'W x 5'H safe enclosure. Now I will need to figure out how to make a special spot for her nest to be relocated to where she will feel comfortable

 

[j-duck]

And Miss Lydia, you're right about predators. I live in GA. On my farm- we see fox and coyote and random other things. They typically have stayed on the back half of my property or up either side. They don't seem to care for my dogs or 2 guard goats. But a sitting duck would be very tempting. Thank you for being the voice of reason.

 

[Miss Lydia]

And Miss Lydia, you're right about predators. I live in GA. On my farm- we see fox and coyote and random other things. They typically have stayed on the back half of my property or up either side. They don't seem to care for my dogs or 2 guard goats. But a sitting duck would be very tempting. Thank you for being the voice of reason.

your very welcome and I want to share this simple lil privacy partition I made for our goose so when she begins to lay this coming year she'll have privacy from the gander.
I did this and it is just scraps laying around. and Ga. we'll we're practically neighbors, actually our daughter and grandkids live outside of Atlanta.