Last fall we saw evidence of broody behavior in our little mallard and her female-bro-for-life blue swede, but that didn't make sense to let that happen so late in the season so we took the eggs away. The past two weeks, I've been letting our birds fill up a big nest in our duck-house, and there's probably something like 15 eggs in there. It's a large nest, and our pekin female decided it was hers--she has been quietly and protectively sitting on it for approximately a week now. She started sitting right as I was cleaning out their pen from the winter, which is less than ideal, but doesn't seem to be likely to become an issue yet. We have a greenhouse we can kick all our other birds into in a week or two so she has the space to herself.
My questions are:
a) what do I need to have for her to make her comfortable for the next couple weeks?
b) what do i do for a watering situation once the ducklings are hatching,
c) how long do i wait to take away the dud eggs after the ducklings are hatching,
d) how do we intervene if we need to during a hatch, as in, can i take away eggs from her that are in trouble hatching or do i let nature take its course?
e) do i let her raise them--we've never had a broody duck that actually hatched any eggs, and my boyfriend is insanely worried about dead ducklings
My questions are:
a) what do I need to have for her to make her comfortable for the next couple weeks?
b) what do i do for a watering situation once the ducklings are hatching,
c) how long do i wait to take away the dud eggs after the ducklings are hatching,
d) how do we intervene if we need to during a hatch, as in, can i take away eggs from her that are in trouble hatching or do i let nature take its course?
e) do i let her raise them--we've never had a broody duck that actually hatched any eggs, and my boyfriend is insanely worried about dead ducklings
