How long do you wait to see if your duck will be broody?

[JenniferK]

We just adopted a pair of Black East Indies, and the female over the last two and a half weeks has laid about five eggs all in different places. The latest was today under the cat litter box lid that I'd put in the duck yard in case she wanted it for nesting, and then I panicked today and moved the egg and the lid into the night time house because I realized if she did decide to nest there, we couldn't guarantee her safety. So my questions are... Should I have left the lid where it was if she liked it there, since she may never be broody anyway? How long can you keep eggs before you put them in an incubator? And do you need to bring the eggs in right away to store them, or can you leave them out where they've been laid for a few weeks before you decide there's no way the duck is going to be hatching them?

I apologize if there's a thread on this already -- I looked but couldn't find anything that quite answered my questions. BTW, what book would you recommend for someone who's just interested in basic duck care and behavior?

 

[satay]

Generally with my ducks if they decided to sit they will lay all the eggs in a nest or box etc but lay them all together. I just leave them in there til they are ready to sit. I think with the muscoveys there are usually 10+ eggs in the nest when they sit. For an incubator I would collect a few first break them open and see if they are fertile. If they are i would collect them for no more than 10 days and then set them in the incubator.