Mallard sitting on nest and unfertilized eggs

[the farmerista alicia]

Good morning! So I am fairly new to farming and raising poultry/water fowl. I have 7 hens, 1 rooster, 2 Pekin Ducks a Khaki Campbell and a Mallard, all ducks are female and about 7-8 months old...about a week ago my Mallard (Curios Georgia) started staying in the coop to sit on her nest and on her eggs. I feel like natural instincts have kicked in and she’s trying to “hatch” babies but non are fertilized. All of my poultry/fowl are free range during the day and locked up at night. She’s missing out on so much. So my question is, how do I handle this? So I keep letting her sit on them? or move her and collect her eggs? I moved her the first day because I didn’t know what she was doing and I needed to clean the coop but I don’t want to move her if it will affect her long term or ruin chances on her hatching in the future. Help

 

[Duck mommy 2019]

buy fertile eggs and put them under her

 

[FortCluck]

I agree with getting fertile eggs and removing the infertile ones. You could also break her from being broody.

I hatch quail year around so I stick quail chicks under my broodies to break them. Sometimes I have chicken chicks I’ll stick under them. My duck I give her chicken chicks because we do not have fertile duck eggs.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I agree with getting fertile eggs and removing the infertile ones. You could also break her from being broody.

I hatch quail year around so I stick quail chicks under my broodies to break them. Sometimes I have chicken chicks I’ll stick under them. My duck I give her chicken chicks because we do not have fertile duck eggs.

Oh my gosh, that's a brilliant idea. Too bad I need as many broodies as I can get XD


Don't you ever worry about mama accidentally drowning non duck chicks?

 

[FortCluck]

Oh my gosh, that's a brilliant idea. Too bad I need as many broodies as I can get XD


Don't you ever worry about mama accidentally drowning non duck chicks?

We do not have a pond so no... she has a little pond we dump daily. She is a Muscovy and not really a water duck. She likes woods more than a mallard derived duck.

I have MANY chicken broodies. One I’m actually moving today to raise 20 quail chicks She’s a bantam light Brahma.

 

[Egg Snatcher]

Get babies ducks or chicks and sneak them under her a night or get her some hatching eggs.

 

[Quacky Cate]

How do you purchase fertilized eggs?

 

[Pullet Press]

How do you purchase fertilized eggs?

Some hatcheries sell fertile eggs, and if you can't get them that way, ask around town. Figures there will be some folks ready to give away fertile eggs.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

If you mean where, just go to eBay or ask a neighbor

If you literally mean how, they just collect eggs from hens that had been with roosters and sell them

 

[Pullet Press]

I should have mentioned this earlier, but how long has the duck been broody? If you sneak fertile eggs under her and she stops being broody before they hatch, would they die?