First season with momma ducks to be

[Aliceismad106]

Hello. This is my first spring with the girl babies and it came fast and oh man. I have a female blue swedish, she is 2. She had been laying with her previous pond. I have a female white runner mix who is almost 9 months. When the one who had been laying started laying, my doodle bear started and she was so happy. (She's typically really bossy but fun and when she's happy it's like she smiles). Our chocolate male runner is also almost 9 months and let's just say he enjoyed the mating season.
We noticed Cayenne(bs) staying in the coop more and realized she was sitting on eggs. No big deal. The next day when one of the chickens tried to bully her off the nest Cayenne got spicy and made her leave. The rooster did not like that.
Immediately after confining him, making sure she had no injuries, I picked the nest up put it safely up while I sectioned off a piece of the yard to enclose the duck coop in and give them their own space. I put the nest back. There were 4 eggs. Only 4.
Doodle started alternating shifts with Cayenne but now they have one giant nest and each one sits on a side and they lean on each other. They finally let me see what they were hiding and there's 18 freaking eggs in there!! 6 of them are chicken eggs!
My guess is with the chickens unable to access the coop some of them just laid their egg next to the enclosure and one of those long billed babies pulled it under?
My questions are?
I read runner ducks are not good mama's but doodle looks so happy! What do I need tolook for at hatching?
What do I do about the chicken eggs? Cayenne got her name for a reason and she should've been named bitey carolina reaper..)I'm not taking them from her now. It's like she counts them.

How does 2 mama's work on a nest?
Does anyone have a pic of a blue swedish/chocolate runner duckling because alli can picture is a brown baby with a bib that look like a bowling pin with a badonkadonk.
Thanks in advance!

 

[Miss Lydia]

If they have 18 eggs it's a good thing they are sharing a nest they are going to need each other to care for that many ducklings. As for the chicken eggs they will hatch on day 19-20 or thereabouts and ducklings on day 28 thereabouts. So you are going to probably have to take any chicks that hatch and brood them. Or there is a possibility the duck mamas will leave the duck eggs and get out with their chicks. There are members here who have had Runners being good mamas, Mine don't seem to have the ability to stay in one place long enough to brood a clutch of eggs but I have my Muscovy for that. Since you've countered 18 you might want to mark them with a pencil or markers so you can remove any more that are added or you are going to have even more staggered hatches.

 

[Yardmom]

My runners are great mamas. If you leave the chicken eggs and they are fertile they will hatch 3 weeks after being sat on, but the duck eggs won't hatch until 4 weeks after being sat on. The ducks will likely leave the nest with whatever hatched in the first few days. I watch for my ducks to take breaks then remove added eggs. (When I see a duck is setting I mark the eggs I want her to keep) As far as the double nest goes I have had mixed results. I have had ducks move the eggs back and forth so much that they shook the eggs so much that none of the eggs hatched. I have also had hens sit together and stick together while raising the young.

 

[Aliceismad106]

So do I just grab chicks as they hatch? Idk when the put them in there. It been less than a week or can say for sure.
Mark the ones now, take new. Ok.
now the hard part...
Any tips on how to become invisible?

 

[Miss Lydia]

You'll just have to be brave and wear a suit of armor. Just kidding.

If you don't mark the eggs in the nest now how will you know when new ones are laid which are which? Mark the ones in the nest now that why if any new ones are added you can take them out. Just take a marker and put a dot or write the date just something to show you what eggs should be in there and the ones that shouldn't. Plus at some point you should candle in case any have quit or aren't viable so they dont blow up and mess up the whole nest of eggs. So what I do is wait for mine to come out to eat, I go inside close the door and candle while she is out. remove any that aren't growing or any that have been added.
I have to literally pick my goose up and make her go outside. So picking your ducks up and taking them out so you can do what you need to do is also an option. Remember your the boss. lol

 

[Aliceismad106]

You'll just have to be brave and wear a suit of armor. Just kidding.

If you don't mark the eggs in the nest now how will you know when new ones are laid which are which? Mark the ones in the nest now that why if any new ones are added you can take them out. Just take a marker and put a dot or write the date just something to show you what eggs should be in there and the ones that shouldn't. Plus at some point you should candle in case any have quit or aren't viable so they dont blow up and mess up the whole nest of eggs. So what I do is wait for mine to come out to eat, I go inside close the door and candle while she is out. remove any that are growing or any that have been added.
I have to literally pick my goose up and make her go outside. So picking your ducks up and taking them out so you can do what you need to do is also an option. Remember your the boss. lol

One of them is always on it. Doodle came out when I offered treats and Cayenne growled at me. Then doodle ran back in and Cayenne came out happy.
I'm gonna try again when it's closer to bed after the others are all locked away and hubby can help. Cayenne loves her daddy and may just get up long enough..

 

[Luv Ducks]

I hope that this worked out for you. I had two sister Mallards sharing the same nest. One got out of the enclosure, not sure if she flew out or escaped through a whole I found in the netting several days after they had been sitting side by side for days. There were lots of eggs int he nest, some theirs, some stolen from others. My lone Mallard would not let me near the nest. She acted like a Pitt Bull every time I thought about checking the eggs. I left well enough alone. She hatched out 4 babies and would not leave the nest. I put on heavy gloves and decided to take the remaining eggs. None of them were fertile and developing and one was starting to rot so I was glad that I did. She was a great Mom to the babies for a couple of weeks and then wanted out of the enclosure I had her in with them so I let her out. The babies are all fine and getting very big and look like boys so they will be rehomed. If the chicks hatch out and they abandon the nest you can take the duck eggs and put them in an incubator to save them. I have done this in the past even after the eggs had gotten cold and some of them survived. I hope it all worked out for you as I just got this post.