I'm sorry y'all... I have ANOTHER question...

[RubberDuckee]

Well, I have more questions… go figure…

Y’all, I do promise that I really am getting better at this… It is just such a “live and learn” kind of process. I am so sorry for all of my recent inquiries. I DO very much appreciate all the help you have given me!!! I promise I am not trying to be "that girl."

So…

First an update… My susie, Patita, still has the weird thing (the mystery thing) on her leg. Since it has not fallen off like the vet guessed it would, I am just going to have it removed. It has stopped growing, but it freaks me out and I don’t want it there. I am going to go ahead and pay for it to be “assessed.” I will let you all know when I find out WHAT “IT” IS!

Now for my questions/inquiries…

1. I have 3 mallard hens/susies. Granted they are just hatchery quality and are, at least in a small part “manky” at that… (mixed w/ domestic of some sort). They are around 7 months old. They began laying eggs in mid-September. I know that Mallards usually lay around 18 eggs. However…. The eggs JUST KEEP COMING!!!!! They never stop!!! I have been taking them and we have been eating them (very good, by the way! – tastes just like a chicken egg from Kroger). However, I have a feeling that they should have stopped laying by now. It has been 2 months of egg after egg after egg. I can’t eat them fast enough! The whole process/experience has been like that darn ‘ole “Energizer bunny”….. It keeps “going, and going, and going, and going, and going…” etc. So, is this normal?
2. Now… This past week, one of my susies (my lil’ “Heart”), has become overwhelmed with motherly instinct. She made a nest in the ivy on my back porch and for 4 days now she REFUSES to leave it! The nest is in the brick planter the runs along the edge of the porch. Now, I may be wrong, but it is my understanding that mallards nest (procreate) in the spring. I haven’t had any drakes hanging around and there certainly hasn’t been a drake to help build the nest in any way, which I hear is normal behavior in the wild. My 3 “girls” are free range, but tend to hang right at home, only flying in a few wide circles in the evening before the “go to bed” in the barn and in the morning when they are let out of the barn. So… Is Heart going to just sit on a nest of rotten eggs for 28 days? What is the deal with this?

I have been worried about predators, so I have been covering her up at night with my leopard print “Snuggie.” HA! And, I have been sleeping on the couch so that I can see her straight out of the French doors.


So….. WHAT is the “dealio, yo?”

 

[Amiga]

First, a sitting duck is a sitting duck.

Get her into a safe place at night, where no predators can help themselves to duck dinner.

I would rather have a duck annoyed than deceased.

If she's a bit of a mix, say with runner or Khaki Campbell, then she may lay over 150 eggs a year.

My runners get broody at odd times, so it is no surprise she has decided to sit. No drakes needed for that.

I sometimes mark a few eggs with a pencil and let a broody sit on those. I remove fresh eggs, and if the marked eggs start looking a little iffy, I swap them out with more eggs. Eventually (longest record was six weeks), the broody hormones pass and they leave the nest.

 

[blondiebee181]

O a semi-related note, I hear you can break a broody by penning her somewhere away from the nest(though this doesn't sound nice)...is this a good or bad method?

 

[RubberDuckee]

Amiga,

Thanks so much for the advice! I took it!

I just went outside with some leather gloves and “braved the beak!” (the motherly instinct pecking beak that is)

Heart and her eggs are now safely in the barn. However, she appeared almost “liberated.” I was a bit surprised… She took a few pecks at her eggs and then she proceeded to act like a “girl gone wild!”

First she danced a bit. Next, she SQUEEZED her plump little body into the water dish and splashed about. After that, she “pranced” around the stall, flapping her wings, and “cackling” at her sisters. Next, she began preening her feathers at if nothing had happened at all.

I have a suspicion she has forgotten all about those darn eggs already… My goodness!

Well... I guess that is just that... Thanks for letting me know what to do. I was just going to end up sleeping on the couch for a month while she sat in the bush on those darn eggs! Quite literally... Ha!

Thanks soooooo much!

 

[RubberDuckee]

SO, now anyone up for answering question number one? Ha! Will the eggs just keep going, and going, and going??? I am going to need to start dating and selling or something! Who would have though???

From MALLARDS!

 

[wildpeas]

Yes, the eggs will most likely keep coming since your ducks are not true mallards. They may slack off when winter really gets here but be prepared for a steady stream of eggs.

If you are not expecting your ducks to hatch out eggs you do not need to let her keep them. One of my runners decided to go broody but the sitting seemed to stress her out so I put a stop to it after a couple of days. The other ducks kept kicking her off the nest to lay and she wasn't eating or drinking. They all seem much happier without the eggs to worry over, but that's just my ducks, everyone's are different.