Placing Eggs Under Broody Duck

[Chriswardens52]

Hello people quick question for ya. This spring I'm planning on letting my mallard hens lay on some eggs that I'm going to order on Ebay. I figure that since shipped eggs are hard to hatch in a incubator I'd place them under my broody or broodies. But I am wondering how I should do this? Do I sneak them under her when she is sleeping or what? Thanks for any help.

 

[cat1994]

Well that the thing is most ducks don’t really sleep, at lest not like chickens do, any time I walk outside at night, not even to their pen I can here mine talking and if I do go in their pen they run around and yell at me like it was the middle of the day, now maybe your hens are tamer then mine b/c even if they are broody mine never let me get close enough to them and their nest without ether trying to attack me or running away, and this goes for night time as well. But if you can get close to your hen when she on her nest, close enough to put eggs under her that is, I would do it at night, the idea is that when she wakes up she will think that all the eggs are hers, I mean it’s not like they can count.

 

[Oregon Blues]

It's almost impossible to sneak up on a duck. Day or night, your duck will know you are coming.

The best time to put eggs in the nest is when she is off the nest for a few minutes that she is off every day to eat and drink.

Well..... if you could absolutely guarantee that she will go broody, the best time to place eggs is while she is laying and collecting her eggs before she sets. She won't be on the nest at all except to lay eggs. But even if she is laying in a nest, there is no guarantee that she will set and try to hatch them.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
I agree. It's almost impossible. I can only sneak eggs under my broodies is when they are off of their nest and you have time it. I have a Welsh Harlequin who would "quack" VERY loud when she would get off of her nest to stretch her legs. That was my alarm to grab the eggs and sneak them in the nest. I had only 5 minutes. Any minute after that, it was too late.