Nesting Duck eating eggs even though they're almost done

[tandiwe76]

This is very upsetting - my favorite blue Muscovy duck has been sitting on about 20 eggs for about 3 weeks with no issue. However the last four days I started finding cracked open eggs with mostly formed ducklings inside. They had been rolled quite far from the nest. I thought maybe they had cracked by accident or had died, and maybe the mother was just getting rid of them.

Unfortunately, this morning I came upon her eagerly eating out of another egg that had come from her nest. The duckling embryo was visible inside, it has feathers and looks pretty well formed. It's so sad since this duck has been a good brooder and has had successful hatches. Not sure what to do about her. I shooed her away from the nest, and another duck who's been broody came and sat on the nest immediately. I have fenced them off so they will be isolated. So hopefully that takes care of the nest which only needs a week or two more.

Anyone with experience like this who can offer advice? I'm not sure what to do with my "bad" duck now. Will she keep trying to eat eggs? She had access to water, food, and scraps like usual. No change in her diet.

 

[HeritageGoose13]

Sometimes ducks do this, muscovys are the most common breed to do it. I'm not sure what causes it.

Put some fake eggs around the coop, Leave some in the open, but bury some in shaving/sand halfway so it looks like a nest and see what she does. If she goes to peck at it, you'll know she's curious, and if she tries to swallow it, you'll know she wants more. If she looks but just ignores it she is probably safe. That's how I found the egg eaters in my flock.

 

[tandiwe76]

Update: well I had our other broody duck sit on the nest, and this morning found a dead duckling just outside of the nest. Great. One mom eats her own eggs, and the other one kills them when they hatch.

Maybe it's time to invest in an incubator.

 

[HeritageGoose13]

That's a shame. Are you sure the muscovy killed the dead duckling? Sometimes when animals have deformed/dead young they will eat them or fling them from the nest to avoid attracting predators.

 

[tandiwe76]

This time a happy update: The eggs are hatching and so far there are 5 or 6 ducklings doing well under mom #2. Maybe the one I found dead a few days ago was deformed or otherwise sickly, so she took it out of the nest.

Thank goodness. I thought this was an ill-fated hatch!

 

[Miss Lydia]

This time a happy update: The eggs are hatching and so far there are 5 or 6 ducklings doing well under mom #2. Maybe the one I found dead a few days ago was deformed or otherwise sickly, so she took it out of the nest.

Thank goodness. I thought this was an ill-fated hatch!

Congrats!!!

 

[Vonnita]

This is very upsetting - my favorite blue Muscovy duck has been sitting on about 20 eggs for about 3 weeks with no issue. However the last four days I started finding cracked open eggs with mostly formed ducklings inside. They had been rolled quite far from the nest. I thought maybe they had cracked by accident or had died, and maybe the mother was just getting rid of them.

Unfortunately, this morning I came upon her eagerly eating out of another egg that had come from her nest. The duckling embryo was visible inside, it has feathers and looks pretty well formed. It's so sad since this duck has been a good brooder and has had successful hatches. Not sure what to do about her. I shooed her away from the nest, and another duck who's been broody came and sat on the nest immediately. I have fenced them off so they will be isolated. So hopefully that takes care of the nest which only needs a week or two more.

Anyone with experience like this who can offer advice? I'm not sure what to do with my "bad" duck now. Will she keep trying to eat eggs? She had access to water, food, and scraps like usual. No change in her diet.

 

[Vonnita]

This is very upsetting - my favorite blue Muscovy duck has been sitting on about 20 eggs for about 3 weeks with no issue. However the last four days I started finding cracked open eggs with mostly formed ducklings inside. They had been rolled quite far from the nest. I thought maybe they had cracked by accident or had died, and maybe the mother was just getting rid of them.

Unfortunately, this morning I came upon her eagerly eating out of another egg that had come from her nest. The duckling embryo was visible inside, it has feathers and looks pretty well formed. It's so sad since this duck has been a good brooder and has had successful hatches. Not sure what to do about her. I shooed her away from the nest, and another duck who's been broody came and sat on the nest immediately. I have fenced them off so they will be isolated. So hopefully that takes care of the nest which only needs a week or two more.

Anyone with experience like this who can offer advice? I'm not sure what to do with my "bad" duck now. Will she keep trying to eat eggs? She had access to water, food, and scraps like usual. No change in her diet.

My duck did the same thing. I started giving her calcium. And changed her feed diet to one with more calcium in the feed. I now have 5 strong baby muscovy ducklings

 

[Skyranchmom]

This is very upsetting - my favorite blue Muscovy duck has been sitting on about 20 eggs for about 3 weeks with no issue. However the last four days I started finding cracked open eggs with mostly formed ducklings inside. They had been rolled quite far from the nest. I thought maybe they had cracked by accident or had died, and maybe the mother was just getting rid of them.

Unfortunately, this morning I came upon her eagerly eating out of another egg that had come from her nest. The duckling embryo was visible inside, it has feathers and looks pretty well formed. It's so sad since this duck has been a good brooder and has had successful hatches. Not sure what to do about her. I shooed her away from the nest, and another duck who's been broody came and sat on the nest immediately. I have fenced them off so they will be isolated. So hopefully that takes care of the nest which only needs a week or two more.

Anyone with experience like this who can offer advice? I'm not sure what to do with my "bad" duck now. Will she keep trying to eat eggs? She had access to water, food, and scraps like usual. No change in her diet.

So my duck was sitting on what I thought was at least 12 eggs, I saw them in nest a few weeks ago, its past time for them to hatch so I went to check them, there was onlt one egg in the nest. I don't know what happened to the eggs, anyone else have this? I haven't found egg shells, I have 7 ducks who share a pen at night about 8 × 10 ft

 

[BelovedBirds]

So my duck was sitting on what I thought was at least 12 eggs, I saw them in nest a few weeks ago, its past time for them to hatch so I went to check them, there was onlt one egg in the nest. I don't know what happened to the eggs, anyone else have this? I haven't found egg shells, I have 7 ducks who share a pen at night about 8 × 10 ft

what day is it on? What breed? Is the nest and broody isolated from the flock?