Muscovy hatching info... broody on nest

[harleyjo]

I have a broody who has been sitting on a clutch of eggs for about 36 days now. I see no sign of ducklings yet. Just now she came off the nest carrying something. While she was cleaning up in our little pool I went and checked out what she was carrying. It appeared to be a rotten egg. Would she sit on the eggs all this time if they were infertile? I went back to her nest and if was definately stinky. I would have sworn when she went back to the nest that she was tapping on or cracking eggs...

 

[keeperofthehearth]

Oh I hate when one of the eggs ..... or more.... go bad. She's cleaning up & I doubt they were all infertile if you have a drake. I had one Scovy mom who would most always roll the egg out before it busted. I learned the hard way when I first kept rolling it back in thinking it had been rolled out when she was getting in or out of the nest... then it blew up.

Most of my Scovy don't get them out until they do bust then they do a cleaning job by taking it out and dumping it into a near by water bowl. I guess they get the nastiness out of their bill/mouth at the same time that way. If she is tapping on eggs, she may be seeing if any more are bad or if any ducklings are hatching.
She will abandon the nest in the next day or two if they are all dead or rotten. I do hope you get some hatching.... I wouldn't give up quite yet unless she does.