New to broody duck behavior

[britmama]

Novice parents to a broody duck! We found her sitting on her clutch 11 days ago and candled 17 eggs after 7 days and think we have 8-10 fertilized. Today we checked the nest again and found 4 new eggs added. We have another female who had left eggs in another location but are now unsure if she added to the clutch or if the broody duck (Grayling) has laid additional eggs. Broody duck also leaves the eggs for extended periods of time. Is this normal behavior for her to sit only about half the day? They are Swedish Blues and the broody duck had ducklings last spring. We adopted these girls and would love to have some babies from our Pekin drake but not sure her heart is in it! Any and all advice much appreciated!

 

[MGG]

Novice parents to a broody duck! We found her sitting on her clutch 11 days ago and candled 17 eggs after 7 days and think we have 8-10 fertilized. Today we checked the nest again and found 4 new eggs added. We have another female who had left eggs in another location but are now unsure if she added to the clutch or if the broody duck (Grayling) has laid additional eggs. Broody duck also leaves the eggs for extended periods of time. Is this normal behavior for her to sit only about half the day? They are Swedish Blues and the broody duck had ducklings last spring. We adopted these girls and would love to have some babies from our Pekin drake but not sure her heart is in it! Any and all advice much appreciated!

You should candle and find the clears ASAP. It will he some work, but you need to candle them alland remove the clear ones. Then mark all of your body's eggs with a sharpie line, or something so you can tell what ones are her's. Separate out any other ducks so she can brood in peace. Do you have or can you get an incubator for back up?

 

[britmama]

You should candle and find the clears ASAP. It will he some work, but you need to candle them alland remove the clear ones. Then mark all of your body's eggs with a sharpie line, or something so you can tell what ones are her's. Separate out any other ducks so she can brood in peace. Do you have or can you get an incubator for back up?

 

[britmama]

We did candle a couple of hours ago and removed the clear ones. Had numbered them on day 7. No incubator but we can get one and can also separate her from the other 2 ducks. Should we limit the amount of time we let her free range with the other ducks? These are backyard ducks,

 

[MGG]

We did candle a couple of hours ago and removed the clear ones. Had numbered them on day 7. No incubator but we can get one and can also separate her from the other 2 ducks. Should we limit the amount of time we let her free range with the other ducks? These are backyard ducks,

She shouldn't be free ranging at all. They only get off the nest for 15-20 minutes each day usually to eat drink and poop. Then they go back to the nest.