I have a theory

[rgn87]

The hen sits on the eggs like 3hrs a day every day, and the humidity is very high. However, yesterday morning I went to check on the eggs around 6:30 and they were cold, is that bad?

 

[desertdarlene]

Quote:
That doesn't sound good to me at all.

 

[BWKatz]

Bad,bad,bad.....

 

[rgn87]

Okay so my theory did not really pan out, so I quarantined the mother duck and she has been sitting on the nest all day. I noticed she did that yesterday too, but the males ripped her off to have sex with her, hence the quarantine. This will also stop the other hens from laying eggs in her nest too. Hopefully I will see some chicks hatch but we will see. I also think one of my other hens has a nest because she was missing this morning and then popped up later on, which she did when she was sitting on her nest earlier this summer.

 

[Birdcrazy]

My muscovy would stand above her nest when it was hot in the summer instead of sitting... I figured she was getting enough heat and was just using herself to kinda trap the heat in, too.
I agree - smart mother ducks!

It would be very interesting to see how many hatch out of the total, ect. Maybe try to record how long she stays of the nest per day or something to get a percentage?