How to break a broody duck? Been ~8 weeks

mauichickies

In the Brooder
May 26, 2019
7
14
39
Hi everyone, I have one female mallard duck and one female muscovy. My muscovy has been broody for 48 days now (she last laid on December 3) and is constantly making a nest and staying in it whenever I haven’t manually brought her outside of it to forage, swim, etc. Ducklings are not an option for us right now as much as I love them lol. We brought her to the vet 2 or 3 weeks ago to make sure nothing else is going on with her and the vet said she’s fine. She eats (not as much as she used to) but she holds in her poop until I manually bring her out to swim or play. Her poops are a nightmare haha. The vet said she hasn’t lost weight or at least a significant amount. She also doesn’t really act aggressive at all, she just makes squeaky noises and doesn’t want to do much besides sit in her nest until we move her out to go swim etc. When our mallard lays an egg, our muscovy takes it and moves it under her. It’s so sweet but it can’t be good for her health to go this long without laying? Or does it not have much impact as long as she’s eating and drinking?

We’ve tried destroying her nests, she doesn’t care and just makes a new one. We’ve also tried keeping her without bedding, she just kept sitting there acting broody even without a nest. We only did that for about 2 days because I felt guilty and it didn’t seem to be working, but please let me know if we should try it for longer.

We haven’t tried just giving her eggs (unfertilized) to sit on and waiting the 28 days and then trying to break her again, if it’s already been about 50 days would that total time be too long and detrimental to her health? Or as long as we make sure she’s eating is it alright?

I’m just worried about her, I would so appreciate any advice :) Thank you!
 
Setting really takes its course on birds. Have you thpught about giving her one egg to set on? Destroying nests has worked for me and I've actually been attacked after as revenge. But if it didn't work, I'd give her an egg
 
I would separate her from the nesting area. Block it off or set up a separate pen for her. With really determined muscovy, what worked for me when I couldn't block an area off, was separating her in a kennel. She was allowed to sleep with the flock though since her nest wasn't in the duck coop. Other times just denying access to the area worked. Once, I closed the coop door and didn't let any of them in during the day (they have plenty of shelter in their run area).
 

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