Muscovy laying eggs but not sitting on them

[Breemae123]

I have 3 females and 1 drake. This is my first time having ducks and they just started laying. We are up to 17 eggs but I have not seen her sit on them. She made a nice nest for them in the duck house and lays the eggs there every night. There have been 2 new eggs in the morning last few days. I haven’t seen them sitting on the eggs at all though. Is she (or they) still not done laying? Should I wait or remove them? We do want babies so I don’t want to take them if they will hatch.

 

[AlleysChicks]

If she’s not broody she won’t sit on them. I’d collect the eggs and incubate them if you want babies.

 

[Kessel23]

Moscovies usually have a clutch of 15, I had a hen who would have a clutch of 30 each time. You said there is 2 new eggs every day? Then it is a shared nest, each hen probably only has 8 or so eggs, they should set them soon.

 

[Kessel23]

I don't know how a shared nest would work, or if it would work, maybe you could get them to lay in separate spots?

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

@Nyla gets massive Muscovy nests where two have laid eggs. Maybe she can give some advice.

 

[Nyla]

My girls share nests all the time. I always leave the eggs to pile up so my girls build their fluff nest. Once the fluff nest is built, I swap out the old eggs with freshly collected eggs. I also keep track of when the female starts staying on the nests over night and day. I have cameras in my coops that record all movement. They are connected to WiFi so I can check on them from the house. My ducks prefer a dark place out of the light and far away from all my other ducks to nest. I suggest marking all the eggs in the nest so when they do finally decide to set, you can remove old ones and replace them.