Has anybody had a runner duck successfully hatch eggs?

Remove and nesting material and bar her from getting back to the nest. A predator will eventually find her. Sounds like a snake may have found any eggs already. Letting our females nest without predator protection is most likely going to end in sadness.
 
I have a 1 year old runner duck who’s gone broody. I am literally so surprised since she is a yearling and the breed. She has 8 eggs which look to be around day 8-10 after candling. Harper, the runner duck, seems to go off the nest every time I bring fresh water on the coop. (Around 2-4 times a day). She’s off the nest for around 5-10 minutes each break. She seems committed but I’m worried she’s going to end up giving up due to her age/breed. I don’t want to stop her due to how wells she’s doing now and the eggs age. Please tell me either if you’ve had a runner duck hatch eggs successfully or a yearling hatch successfully, or both! Her nest is in an old dog crate, so after her breaks I shut the door so nobody disturbs her.
I’d also like to add she doesn’t cover the nest when she leaves. Does the mean she won’t be successful? I’ve had a broody Swedish duck before and she covered the nest when she left.

This is her and her nest.View attachment 3557786View attachment 3557787
Our first-time mama runner duck somehow hatched one duckling - even as we were purposely removing the eggs a few days after she'd laid them (apparently we'd missed one) and she and the two males hated the little guy instantly. We raised him alone with us 24/7, named him Lenny, and now he thinks he's a dog.

He sometimes takes over my dog's Instagram @beanies_the_borador

There is hope.

Kinda.

PS. He and his mom rekindled their relationship now that he's an adult. Probably because he's really calm and sweet compared to her two male companions, who are a couple of jerks. 🙂
 

Attachments

  • 20230704_135811.jpg
    20230704_135811.jpg
    567.4 KB · Views: 7
Our first-time mama runner duck somehow hatched one duckling - even as we were purposely removing the eggs a few days after she'd laid them (apparently we'd missed one) and she and the two males hated the little guy instantly. We raised him alone with us 24/7, named him Lenny, and now he thinks he's a dog.

He sometimes takes over my dog's Instagram @beanies_the_borador

There is hope.

Kinda.

PS. He and his mom rekindled their relationship now that he's an adult. Probably because he's really calm and sweet compared to her two male companions, who are a couple of jerks. 🙂
That’s one happy duck! And yes there was hope! A couple days ago she hatched a baby!
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom