How to stop a duck from going broody UPDATE: when will she lay again?

[suburbanduckmom]

Ok, so my scovy Daisy has had quite a few adventures lately. She was really friendly and snuggly but then started moving her nest each time I took her eggs, then she escaped the backyard trying to find a new place to nest and spent the night at the humane society, then she laid her eggs in the night pen for a few days. We don't have a drake and I want to eat the eggs so I collect the eggs each day.

We started giving her the wooden eggs to encourage her to keep laying her eggs in the pen. All was going great for a few days until she started QUACKING...a quacking scovy

. Then last night she pulled out a bunch of down to build a nest for her TWO WOODEN EGGS!

Now my lovey, sweet, cuddly duck is hissing at me, won't get off her nest, and isn't laying eggs.

How can I stop her from going broody and encourage her to continue to lay eggs in her box?

UGH, I am so frustrated with this duck

WooHoo. I took away her nest box and she is up and roaming around. She is still chirping a bit when I pet her but not running away or hissing. So will she start laying again? When?

Thank you all for being so understanding and answering all my neurotic questions. My husbands response is usually is "you worry too much."

 

[Bleenie]

You can use a wire cage(or just wire bottom cage) and mount it on the wall. put some of her eggs in it to make her start laying there and if she gets broody she should give up after a few days because she wont be able to keep the eggs warm because of the draft coming through the wire.

I haven't tried it yet but ive read it in a lot of different places online, supposed to be a very effective method of breaking broodies.

 

[duckyfromoz]

I have also heard that they should be separated into a small cage for a few days- but not heard anything about placing any eggs in there as well or that the cage should be suspended above ground. I think the main idea is to stop her getting to her nest- so it may not make a difference if the cage is in the air or not. Worth trying it either way I guess.

 

[rebbetzin]

One of my Buff Orpington hens is CONSTANTLY going Broody!! If we had a rooster, she would have produced lots of chicks by now. But... I have tried about everything to get her to quit. But, as soon as she sees some eggs, especially wooden ones, she is trying to hatch them!!

 

[RAREROO]

Dont make her stop. Just send her to me and get you another one that isn't broody, LOL I can always use some broody ducks. I got 4 ducks and a bantam hen setting right now.

 

[suburbanduckmom]

Thanks everyone. I'm going to try taking the wooden eggs away and the nest box and see if that helps. I don't really want to separate her from the other duck if I don't have to. We only have 2 and the Pekin gets very lonely if she is by herself.

She did get out and hang out in the yard with me today. She even sat in my lap for a while until she let a big broody poo go on my lap

She is such a sweet duck and I would miss our snuggle time together if she went broody.

 

[suburbanduckmom]

Thanks everyone. I'm going to try taking the wooden eggs away and the nest box and see if that helps. I don't really want to separate her from the other duck if I don't have to. We only have 2 and the Pekin gets very lonely if she is by herself.

She did get out and hang out in the yard with me today. She even sat in my lap for a while until she let a big broody poo go on my lap

She is such a sweet duck and I would miss our snuggle time together if she went broody.

 

[lovesduckies]

Quote:
my broody scovie is a goose... she honks at me

lol.

good luck! i hope it works. my boy is lonely too he's got a bunny though and his momma to rub his head

 

[sourland]

Muscovies are by nature a broody breed, and you can bet that she will try to set again and again and--. If you want ducks for egg production, you might want to consider a couple of Indian runners or some of the production hybrids.

 

[nettie]

ugh the broodiness and broody poops.... ALl of my ducks live inside in a pen in their own bedroom.... My ducks are just pets, who we pet and cuddle and take to the pet store, etc... so when one of them goes broody, it's so annoying! Right now my duck Victor (who's really a girl, the name stuck) is going all broody, egg sitting and it molting. My duck ollie went through the whole poofy up and yelling every time you go near her, which was several times a day.... we're designing a new duck pen, so perhaps i'll make some sort of wire bottom I can take in and out of the nest box area for when someone decides they must have babies.... I keep telling them with out a boy, it's futile, but they don't listen. Victor insists he's a boy because of his name, and I can't seem to convince him otherwise. lol. I do have my mind set on getting a little male call duck sometime in the not too distant future. teehee