Need Help — duck abandoning eggs after 28 days. The ducklings are about to hatch!

[Suzykool]

We decided to let our girls have ducklings this year. Our two year old buff has been sitting on her nest for exactly 28 days as of today. She hasn't been the best mom, but last year was a lot worse. She's been pretty good sitting on her eggs but would sometimes get off for about 30-50 minutes. We would let her out to go have a bath and do her potty business away from the nest. For the most part she's been in the duck run on a nice little nest for the last month. Last night/today it seems she's had enough—she's basically not sitting on the nest anymore (sitting for a few hours at a time then off again). We have an older duck, too old to lay her own eggs, who has been sitting on the nest last night and this morning, but not full time. We've candled most of the eggs and a lot of them have movement, one is pecking/starting to peep. They're SO close to hatching I don't know what to do. We brought 5 of the most promising eggs inside and placed them in our incubator, the nest has another 7 eggs.

We really wanted the girls to raise/take care of/bond to the ducklings and I'm worried that hatching them in the brooder might completely offbalance that whole arrangement and the girls might not accept the ducklings. I'm planning on running the ducklings back out to the nest as they start hatching but I don't know if that's going to work.

Is there anything I can do to encourage the girls to get back on the nest? The mom is right on the finish line. I'm looking at the camera right now and she's off the nest again. I would be fine if the old duck went and sat on the nest again, at this point I'm completely out of ideas. I know the eggs are still alive but I'm not sure what to do. I don't want to take them all out and make the girls think the nest is gone. Any ideas?

Sorry for a long rant, I'm just freaking out! We were so close!

I would leave the nest... If they are pipping they are ready... We had our ducks out side and a few good rain storms did the trick. After the moisture and humidity the eggs hatched. Momma or other hens will jump on. The ones I tried to incubate failed so really try to leave it. Keep me posted

 

[Galaxyfalcon]

I would leave the nest... If they are pipping they are ready... We had our ducks out side and a few good rain storms did the trick. After the moisture and humidity the eggs hatched. Momma or other hens will jump on. The ones I tried to incubate failed so really try to leave it. Keep me posted

Actually we ended up taking them...! (see the rest of the thread). They're doing good but we lost 1 (little number 4). They're all 4 weeks old as of today actually!

Here's some photos from Friday.

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Here's little number 6 being a good snuggle duck.

Thanks! I'll try that! I have a garden hose with a very fine mist setting. If nothing else they'll love the puddles that'll accumulate. :-D

Let me know how the hose strategy goes!

 

[Galaxyfalcon]

Just some quick updates! The group is turning 5 weeks starting today, with 1, 2, and 3 crossing the mark today. The little voices are starting to change so it might still be a bit early but we might spend some time this weekend seeing if we can pinpoint who is a boy or girl although we have our suspicions already. Any good advice/guides or sexing them by the quack/rasp?

Here's some photos of the bunch:

Here's 3 being a big boy:



10 is really sassy, he has a lot of attitude and will chase off the bigger ducks and "fights" (chats) with his dad a lot if he gets bullied by him:



5's eye still looks weird, you can see it more clearly now that he is bigger. We're actually thinking that 5 might be a she but we're still not sure:



Here's 2! We think he's a boy, he's quite independent but he loves to come up to you and chat a lot:



Here's 1 being curious, we think 1 is a she now:



Here's 7, 8, and 9! We call 8 & 9 "the Twins" because they hatched close together and spent their day in the incubator drying out together by themselves, and they still spend the most time together while looking quite similar.



And here's our big sweetie 6. We really hope she's a girl but I've heard her "weeep!" which is something our boy ducks normally do, so she might be a boy after all! 6 is incredibly friend and tolerates pets extremely well. 6 also loves cuddles and will still try to crawl up on your lap as if she was a tiny peeper still.



It looks like we might be losing one of our old girls soon so its sure nice having these spry young little quackers around. They are extremely excited to see us in the morning and make an adorable stampede out of the duck run every morning.

I've been reading storey's guide to ducks to try and understand duck genetics and their colors etc which is fascinating. Our Pekin (actually probably a white layer) and Rouen are pure bred boys but momma Herman is some kind of hybrid—her mom was a orpington but her dad is a mystery. We suspect possibly a Rouen or Saxony but we're not sure. I think some of the variety in the ducklings is coming from her side of the family! The interesting thing is that none of the possible parents: Herman, Cassie, or Neptune have dark feet or bills, but many of the ducklings have orange/black feet and dark or spotted bills.

 

[KaleIAm]

Thank you so much for the photos! They are such sweet babies. I love when they are starting to lose their baby fuzz and have that in between look! So cute!