How to break a broody duck?

[RogerTheChicken]

my black Cayuga named daffy was found sitting on 5 golf balls one duck egg and 1 Easter egg, no clue how she moved the decoy eggs, they were in different nest lol. She is hissing and fluffing up at me, I don't have a drake so none will hatch, how do I break her broodiness?

 

[Orca5094]

Take away all her "eggs" and break up (or completely remove) her nest. Do you have other birds who are sitting on eggs you DO want incubated? That might make it harder to break her broodiness if she has access to other nests or eggs. Do you have nest boxes, or did she make the nest herself? Usually they will get the hint if you remove all their eggs and completely break apart their nest, though. They might linger there for about a day, but after that they usually give up on their nest and move on with their lives.

 

[RogerTheChicken]

No, I don't have any eggs ready to be incubated, she was making her own nest but now she uses the nest box

 

[Orca5094]

Ok, well how long has she been broody? I really just interfere with broodiness if they've been sitting a long time (full incubation cycle of 28 days) and STILL want to keep sitting. Incubating any longer is very hard on their bodies as they don't eat or do much else during incubation and tend to lose alot of weight. Sometimes they kind of need to go through an incubation cycle though, even if the eggs aren't fertile and won't hatch. It's a natural process.

So you have two options, really: Remove all eggs and block access (or remove) all nest boxes, or let her sit for 28 days and then remove all eggs and block or remove the nest boxes at that time. I think it's good for them to go through an incubation cycle now and again, especially if it seems they obviously want to. Just allowing them to sit longer than that can become detrimental to their health.

It's really up to you how you want to handle it though, this is all just my opinion on the matter.

 

[RogerTheChicken]

I broke her nest up, went out there this morning and she has built a new one, she is being really mean lol, and she has been sitting for 4 days now

 

[Miss Lydia]

I broke her nest up, went out there this morning and she has built a new one, she is being really mean lol, and she has been sitting for 4 days now

Last year one of my Muscovy ducks would not give up for nothing so since she was the first one to go broody this year and we can't have ducklings [no room] I was ready for her I gave her fake goose eggs[ Premier 1] she is now sitting on 2 of them and happy as a clam, I marked the calender and when her 35 days are up hopefully she'll get up and enjoy her summer. The goose eggs are just a little bigger than duck eggs so they work perfectly.

 

[LadyIsadora]

I blew coffee through my nose when I read the OP.
Thanks. LOL
I so sorry, I know its a serious issue for you but the mental Image of -your aptly named "daffy"- sitting on golf balls & Easter eggs conjured up old loony tunes cartoons whith that old broody chicken. OMG! Soooo funny in my head.

I'm new to this whole raising ducks thing and have been surfing this forum for general info, tips, tricks and the like. so I had no frame of reference for this broody problem. thanks for sharing, so people like me can learn.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I blew coffee through my nose when I read the OP.
Thanks. LOL
I so sorry, I know its a serious issue for you but the mental Image of -your aptly named "daffy"- sitting on golf balls & Easter eggs conjured up old loony tunes cartoons whith that old broody chicken. OMG! Soooo funny in my head.

I'm new to this whole raising ducks thing and have been surfing this forum for general info, tips, tricks and the like. so I had no frame of reference for this broody problem. thanks for sharing, so people like me can learn.

Welcome to BYC It can be similar to Looney Tunes

 

[Orca5094]

I broke her nest up, went out there this morning and she has built a new one, she is being really mean lol, and she has been sitting for 4 days now

In that case, I'd just let her sit on her new nest/eggs for about 28 days and then try to break her from it again. By then maybe she'll have gotten her broodiness out of her system and be ready to get on with her life.

 

[RogerTheChicken]

She is being even meaner lol, hissing very loudly, burying herself in hay and biting me, fluffing up herself. She bit me and left a mark lol, it's actually kinda funny