First egg from Cayuga

[Terraalexandria]

Hello y’all
Excited to join the community & hopefully get a better understanding on my family’s Cayuga ducks. Mainly for information and advice regarding one of our ducks who just today laid her first egg(s). We found one in her house and another near the pool, but unfortunately it was broken. I feel like an excited grandma patiently waiting for her new baby to arrive

We do have every intention of letting the egg hatch naturally, but I was wondering if there is anything I should be doing from now on just to help the situation. Should I check the yard every morning for more eggs and if any are found move them into her house with the one that was found recently? Or leave them be? Anything special to be on the look out for? Etc lol

P.S. They are backyard ducks with a section of yard for their housing/pool. But occasionally we spoil them and let them hang out on our deck

anyways my name is Terra and thanks in advance for any feedback.

Wondering if I should be worried! Our girl has recently started to go “brood” or “broody”. Total egg count is 14! Anyways every time she’s laying on them she pants like a dog and once we even saw her just laying on her side and didn’t move much when we cleaned out her water. Is this normal (sorta like when women go into labor) or is it too hot? Humidity isn’t bad today and neither is the heat so I’m a bit confused.

 

[Terraalexandria]

Well sure It is possible. It's just not the best chance for eggs that are possibly older or dirty or been laying out and exposed to weather ..extreme heat or cold, or real dirty. And an egg that goes bad in the nest can end up popping and contaminating the rest of the eggs.

I wouldn't keep and eat eggs that have been sitting out for 10-12 days myself. They may or may not be good. The purpouse is for what I said above. Plus they start losing fertility at about 10 days and there's less chance it will develop.

I would also wait until next year if it were me.
But that's not saying it can't happen.
My Cayugas are not the best mother's anyway and they are a few years old. I probably won't be letting mine sit again.

Wondering if I should be worried! Our girl has recently started to go “brood” or “broody”. Total egg count is 14! Anyways every time she’s laying on them she pants like a dog and once we even saw her just laying on her side and didn’t move much when we cleaned out her water. Is this normal...

 

[Poultry mum]

Wondering if I should be worried! Our girl has recently started to go “brood” or “broody”. Total egg count is 14! Anyways every time she’s laying on them she pants like a dog and once we even saw her just laying on her side and didn’t move much when we cleaned out her water. Is this normal...

Is she getting up to poop and bath? If not I would recommend picking her up and putting her in her pond or at least near it…I had to do this with Muscovy when she refused to move off her eggs (that she “stole” from her sisters) they can become very protective of their young to point where they sacrifice their own needs… sounds familiar lol….

 

[Newfowler1]

View attachment 2730686She much bigger than our other females.And she is the one our only drake follows around constantly.

She’s a lovely girl! Looks calm and at ease. I really like my Cayuga ducks. I wish I had kept my Cayuga drake Jimi. He was the coolest calmest drake I’ve ever had. A gentleman with the girls as well

 

[Terraalexandria]

Is she getting up to poop and bath? If not I would recommend picking her up and putting her in her pond or at least near it…I had to do this with Muscovy when she refused to move off her eggs (that she “stole” from her sisters) they can become very protective of their young to point where they sacrifice their own needs… sounds familiar lol….

She actually is still doing what she would normally do! She goes to her pool and she walks around with her siblings. She drinks water. But she only does the panting thing when she’s laying on her eggs! I also counted 16 today and got her on camera laying one last night

 

[Poultry mum]

She actually is still doing what she would normally do! She goes to her pool and she walks around with her siblings. She drinks water. But she only does the panting thing when she’s laying on her eggs! I also counted 16 today and got her on camera laying one last night

Lol.. thats cool.. lol.. her panting thing must be a warning mechanism to stay away from her and the nest.. I wouldn’t worry too much then…

 

[shawluvsbirds]

Wondering if I should be worried! Our girl has recently started to go “brood” or “broody”. Total egg count is 14! Anyways every time she’s laying on them she pants like a dog and once we even saw her just laying on her side and didn’t move much when we cleaned out her water. Is this normal...

The being real still is normal.
It's almost like they go into a trance when they're sitting.

Lol.. thats cool.. lol.. her panting thing must be a warning mechanism to stay away from her and the nest.. I wouldn’t worry too much then…

I was just thinking of asking,
Maybe she is just doing this when you are around. They will almost hiss at you like a snake, and just kind of hold their mouth open like they are panting as a warning for you to get away from them.
It may also be that she is getting a little hot while sitting in there on those eggs. I wouldn't worry about her as long as you can tell she's eating and drinking still.

 

[DabblinDuckDabbler]

@DabblinDuckDabbler just recently had a broody Cayuga. Any suggestions?

Also, you might look at this thread https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/i-want-my-cayuga-to-go-broody.1453452/

Suggestions? Lol, be patient.

My Cayuga Mama just turned a year old in June. She’s been laying since December or so, and ya, I’d been waiting for a brood since then. She’d reliably drop an egg every morning before dawn, but didn’t really care where. I tried putting a nest box in her run—definitely hit or miss on whether she’d actually lay in it.
even when she started making nest like structures, it was probably a good couple months before she actually acted broody.

Then, because I’d been picking up eggs to keep predators out of the nest area during the day (had some blue jays attack the eggs ), I pulled a couple out of the fridge and put em in the nest to encourage her to start sitting (allow them to come to room temp first). Once she had 8, between fridge and fresh, she started sitting. But it was FOREVER to get to that point.
She’s been a champ mom, though. She disposed of the fridge eggs early on, and the @#%^ chickens stole and ate all but one, so I put a chicken egg in with her (she happily took), and two two week old foster Cayuga babies once her duckling hatched. They’re the cutest little mismatched clutch ever, lol. <3

but ya—patience.

 

[DabblinDuckDabbler]

Suggestions? Lol, be patient.

She’s been a champ mom, though. She disposed of the fridge eggs early on, and the @#%^ chickens stole and ate all but one, so I put a chicken egg in with her (she happily took), and two two week old foster Cayuga babies once her duckling hatched. They’re the cutest little mismatched clutch ever, lol. <3

Here’s the thread documenting if you wanna check it out: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/adventures-in-cayuga-mama-ing.1474755/

 

[Terraalexandria]

Suggestions? Lol, be patient.

My Cayuga Mama just turned a year old in June. She’s been laying since December or so, and ya, I’d been waiting for a brood since then. She’d reliably drop an egg every morning before dawn, but didn’t really care where. I tried putting a nest box in her run—definitely hit or miss on whether she’d actually lay in it.
even when she started making nest like structures, it was probably a good couple months before she actually acted broody.

Then, because I’d been picking up eggs to keep predators out of the nest area during the day (had some blue jays attack the eggs ), I pulled a couple out of the fridge and put em in the nest to encourage her to start sitting (allow them to come to room temp first). Once she had 8, between fridge and fresh, she started sitting. But it was FOREVER to get to that point.
She’s been a champ mom, though. She disposed of the fridge eggs early on, and the @#%^ chickens stole and ate all but one, so I put a chicken egg in with her (she happily took), and two two week old foster Cayuga babies once her duckling hatched. They’re the cutest little mismatched clutch ever, lol. <3

but ya—patience.

She’s been spending more and more time on her eggs. Today I counted 20!!