Muscovy duck surrogacy

[Dfarago]

I have four female Muscovy ducks and one male. One of my females has laid and is brooding. She will be moved into a separate enclosure with her eggs as soon as it is built (which should be in a few days). But now another female has also started laying. Can I give the eggs to the already established female and keep her as a brood mother for the eggs and ducklings? Or do I have to keep each clutch with their respective mothers? Also is it possible to put different mothers in the same pen as long as the mothers are at different incubating and hatching cycles? The enclosure is 200 sq ft.

 

[tacothechicken]

I'll admit I've never had any duck brooding experience personally, but as far as I know hens often sneak th per eggs into others nests so you should be able to give them to the brood y, the problem would be the difference in days between her clutch and the secound clutch hatching as she'll need to get moving whithin days of the majority of the first clutch hatching.
As to sharing a pen, it should be fine ducks and geese and even chickens often do raise clutches together for security and a helping hand. I would make sure the second hen is at least a ways off whith her nest though so no one is feeling threatened while brooding in cases of territorialism. My Cochin will fight any hen in a 10 ft vicinity of her nest, but once the babies hatch her sister helps whith babysitting so I wouldn't be concerned

 

[Dfarago]

Thank you for the info