My Muscovy gone broody, but she comes off the nest for 10 mins..Too long?

[purplesquirrel]

I have noticed my Muscovy acting broody for the last week, but was still laying eggs.
Now she has fully lined her nest box with beautiful white down, and has officially stopped laying.
I'm actually incubating some Muscovy eggs (hers) in the house, they are half way through now, I didn't want to risk giving them to her because it's her first time brooding and I have a buyer for the ducklings already...so I cant afford for things to go wrong.

She stays in the nest box all day, except to come out maybe twice a day to do a huge horrible poo and drink and eat. I want to buy some runner duck eggs for her from Ebay, but I need to make sure she is going to be dedicated!


I timed her breaks when she comes out, on average it's 8-9.5 minutes. Is this normal?
The weather ranges from about 16-25 degrees C.
Today I the first time she hasn't laid an egg, so should I wait perhaps another day? Or should I just buy them today
Bearing in mind they will take a day or two to arrive.

If anyone could help me that would be awesome.
Thank, Kate.

 

[Pyxis]

That's fine! Very normal. I've had some take 30 minute breaks and the eggs still hatched.

 

[purplesquirrel]

Ok, I just bought them! I hope she does a good job

 

[Going Quackers]

I wouldn't fuss she'll either go the distance or she won't when they first brood there are greater "break" periods than when closer to hatch time.

Honestly, most Muscovy are awesome broodies... mine have run on overload this year... heck, the first batch provided me with 19. She had an almost 100% hatch rate.

Good luck!