Old fashioned Broody Thread for Ducks

[Miss Lydia]

Hi all! I'm so glad to have found this thread! I have a mallard who went broody in the brooding room, so we got her some silver appleyard eggs (8 hr round trip to get them!) since I'm not sure that her eggs are fertile (the drake is a cayuga, and he definitely mates with her) and our attempt at incubating silver appleyards did not go so well earlier this year. We got 13 eggs, I gave her 6 and the other 7 are waiting to go into the incubator, and now that we have power again that can be soon! Although I'm wondering if they're still okay after just sitting on the counter for 4 days during the power outage. . .

Anyway, the mallard has some of her own eggs in the nest as well, at least 2. When I checked in on her today, I could see a couple through a space in her wing- she's trying to cover them all but she's a small duck! It HAS been hot, and the bedding in there stays pretty warm since we've had a batch of guineas and two groups of ducklings in the room and I've mostly been taking out the wet bedding and just stirring/adding new wood chips with the rest. Do I need to take some eggs away from her or is it possible they'll all be okay? I could try candling them next week since they'll be at about the 10 day stage then and just take out the ones that seem infertile? She doesn't get off the nest much, I have her blocked in so the rest of the ducks and guineas won't bother her. The room is a bit smaller than 6 x 4. If I go in and she gets off and yells at me, and I candle them, she won't decide to stop sitting on them, will she?

We also have a cayuga hen who has decided to go broody in my straw-mulched potatoes. I've just been taking the eggs as I see her lay them, it would be nice if she did it somewhere safe so I could give her the rest of the silver appleyard eggs so I didn't have to worry about the incubator! I don't think the garden is preadator safe, however, seeing as how she snuck in there.

My plan was to move the mallard and her ducklings into the duck tractor-turned permanent house (because I designed it too big

) after they are all hatched and a few days old, because we have too many drakes in the main bird barn. I'm wondering if I could try to entice the cayuga to go broody in the tractor by spreading straw all over the sand floor, but then she'd get really upset if I moved the mallard and her ducklings over, right? Might just be easier to try incubating them. . .

Thanks!!! Reading this thread has been very helpful!

Sounds like she may have too many eggs to keep them all warm, she maybe able to rotate them but i think I'd take some from her. or wait till day 10 and do as you said. can she go outside for a bit of R&R then would be a good time to candle. My girls like to come out at least 1X a day to eat drink POOP and take a bath. thats when i do my candling to keep my skin from being ripped off. LOLIf you don't feel the garden nest is safe from preds then I'd move her. she won't like it but you don't want to come out and find her dead of gone either. prepare her a nice safe place with fresh bedding and fairly secluded and she if she'll take the offer. I don't think 2 mama ducks will be compatible in a tractor. they really need their own space. AND

 

[donnavee]

I'm excited - my broody Magpie must be close to hatch day. She has been coming off the nest twice a day, morning & evening to eat and take a swim. This morning she only came off the nest long enough to gobble a few peas before going right back on the eggs. No big poo or anything. This evening she wouldn't even get off the eggs, but did eat a few peas from my hand. I had calculated this coming Thu as hatch day but looks like it may be earlier !

 

[Miss Lydia]

I'm excited - my broody Magpie must be close to hatch day. She has been coming off the nest twice a day, morning & evening to eat and take a swim. This morning she only came off the nest long enough to gobble a few peas before going right back on the eggs. No big poo or anything. This evening she wouldn't even get off the eggs, but did eat a few peas from my hand. I had calculated this coming Thu as hatch day but looks like it may be earlier !

Oh exciting, keep us updated.

 

[Miss Lydia]

My lil ones are 1 week old today and mama has had them outside all day. This is it for us and I sure have enjoyed all the ducklings this year.

 

[stonykill]

My lil ones are 1 week old today and mama has had them outside all day. This is it for us and I sure have enjoyed all the ducklings this year.

adorable

 

[PetesMom]

Eliza's eggs are due to hatch around the 24th!!! She is sitting on 7-8 fertile of her own, and 3 chicken eggs


Ellie's aren't due to hatch for another few weeks or so....she's sitting on 12 fertile eggs, only 1 of them this time was infertile...hoping she stays put with this clutch since for some reason she abandoned the last nest 4 days before they were suppose to hatch!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Eliza's eggs are due to hatch around the 24th!!! She is sitting on 7-8 fertile of her own, and 3 chicken eggs


Ellie's aren't due to hatch for another few weeks or so....she's sitting on 12 fertile eggs, only 1 of them this time was infertile...hoping she stays put with this clutch since for some reason she abandoned the last nest 4 days before they were suppose to hatch!

There so precious! looking forward to seeing babies!

 

[donnavee]

We have ducklings! Our Magpie braved the heat and hatched 7 out of the 9 on Sat & Sun. One started hatching but died in the shell and she rolled the last egg out of the nest yesterday as if to say it was time to take care of her little ones. Since she mated with a Mallard and a BEI (he's small but very athletic), the babies are a mix though one does look a lot like her without the top knot.
We will probably try to give away most of these, but for now we are enjoying the cuteness. She is a great Mom, on Sunday when they were still hatching I heard her quacking which I thought was odd - I looked in the duck enclosure and found a black snake headed toward the nest. It was a close call, but I was able to take care of things and then I reinforced the top part of the enclosure with netting. When we built it, we never thought about ducklings and put hardware cloth on the bottom half and larger holed wire on the top. Guess we learn as we go. They have now all been moved to the grow out pen which has a covered roof and all hardware cloth.

 

[stonykill]

We have ducklings! Our Magpie braved the heat and hatched 7 out of the 9 on Sat & Sun. One started hatching but died in the shell and she rolled the last egg out of the nest yesterday as if to say it was time to take care of her little ones. Since she mated with a Mallard and a BEI (he's small but very athletic), the babies are a mix though one does look a lot like her without the top knot.
We will probably try to give away most of these, but for now we are enjoying the cuteness. She is a great Mom, on Sunday when they were still hatching I heard her quacking which I thought was odd - I looked in the duck enclosure and found a black snake headed toward the nest. It was a close call, but I was able to take care of things and then I reinforced the top part of the enclosure with netting. When we built it, we never thought about ducklings and put hardware cloth on the bottom half and larger holed wire on the top. Guess we learn as we go. They have now all been moved to the grow out pen which has a covered roof and all hardware cloth.

 

[donnavee]

Maybe a sad update. Topper's 7 little ducklings have been great all day, eating & drinking and following Mom around. Then just a few minutes ago, DH told me that one of the little ones was all by itself. I went to check and sure enough it was laying off from the others, at first I thought it was dead. It is alive but very weak - I brought it in and got it to sip a little vitamin water. Only after I brought it in did I notice it has a tiny little crest like Topper. I'm just keeping it warm and hoping for the best.