Let duck sit on unfertilized eggs?

[duckman4450]

I have a hen mallard Gabby who has been laying a lot of eggs recently. In her outside pen, which is filled with hay, she has made a nest. She would sometimes lay them in her inside pen, or anywhere inside of my house. She had laid 5 eggs in her nest that I had noticed and the next day they were all gone and thought something had stolen them like a raccoon. As I was cleaning her drinking water bowl and her pool inside her pen I found 3 of the eggs in her pool and the other 2 in her drinking water!!!! How the heck did she move them, pick them up, and dump them in her water?!

Anyway, for about the last 2 weeks she started laying an egg in her nest every day, and her nest only outside. Not like before where sometimes inside and whatnot. I thought it was really neat so I let her keep laying them. When she laid her 10th egg, she started sitting on them. The only way I can get her off is by luring her out with mealworms. She does not get off her nest all day, not to eat, drink, swim, etc. I know this is perfectly normal for a laying duck, but my question is should I let her keep sitting on the unfertilized eggs, or should I pull them out so she can get on with her life? I'm only asking because I don't want her to go crazy when she goes in her pen and finds all of her eggs gone. I also don't want her to be mad at me or think I took them (today I picked up one of her eggs in her nest and she waddled over and covered all of them with a lot of straw so she now knows that I know she has eggs. She doesn't get mad if I go by her while she is on the nest or pet her on her nest. She is a very domestic duck and loves to be around people and held and petted. Let me know, please. Thank you!

I'm also going to add that she is acting different when I bring her inside. She is making a soft quacking quite often, and if I leave her side she sprints extremely fast at me and tugs at the bottom of my pants like she wants me to take her back to her eggs or something. Any ideas?

 

[Amiga]

She is broody. The main thing is, is her nest safe from predators? She could be easily killed if that nest is not completely predator-proof. That would be my priority.

If her nest is in a safe place, it is up to you whether to let her sit or not. I let broodies sit on infertile eggs. I mark them so in case she lays new ones I just take those. Sometimes they stop brooding after a day, a week, or a month. Last year Sechs went over two months. But that was okay she was recovering from a prolapse and I wanted her to rest from laying for a long time.

Just make sure she gets exercise, food and water when she wants it.

And make sure she is safe. Predators seem to sense when a duck is sitting and attack.