Strange duck behavior

[catlady58]

I have 4 Rouens: 2 males, 2 females that are about 15 months old. The girls have been laying eggs for a long time, and 2 of the drakes mate with one of the females frequently. I had been picking their eggs up, but for the last week or two I have not. They lay them in a little nest they made. Today one of the girls started acting strangely. She is hanging around the nest, mostly, walking funny with her neck scrunched up, and quacking incessantly unless she is on the nest. She is also hissing and opening her bill a lot. She is eating and drinking, but her feathers are sticking out like she has a fever. Is this normal nesting behavior, or maybe she is egg--bound? I am going to have her examined by the vet (a specialist in avians) if I cannot find out what is wrong with her. Does anyone know anything about this kind of behavior? Please advise me!

 

[ZoeS95423]

Sounds like she is going to be broody.

 

[Amiga]

Some of that behavior is what my runners do when they're broody. Only three or four get broody at all, but when Funf gets broody, she'll run around with her mouth open and her head down, as if to challenge the world. And if she's kept away from the nest for more than a few minutes, she yells about it.

 

[FarmrGirl]

Quote:
yep! that's a broody girl you got there. I'll never understand why they scrunch their necks up like that but they do. When my muscovy are broody they're always in a hurry to run out, splash some water on their chest and run back into the eggs. Lord help the chickens if they get in her way! She'll chase them down and hop on their backs... she's crabby when she's setting a nest.

My black Swedish is brooding eggs right now and she makes so much daggone noise when she's off her nest... sheesh!

Good luck with the hatch! Sounds like she'll be sitting on those eggs any day now.

 

[catlady58]

Thank you all for your reply. I was not "getting it" till I saw her sitting on the clutch of eggs I had left undisturbed. I was afraid she was sick, with all the quacking and neck scrunching, etc. I checked her this morning and although she was still acting weird, she is eating and drinking well. How long should I let her sit before she should give up? I think only half the eggs have been fertilized. One of the girls seems to not "interest" the males. She had some kind of seizure disorder when she was about 3 months old which she grew out of but she moves slower and is kind of a loner.

I have had a great time with ducks over the years. This is my third set, and each experience is different. My favorite duck developed limberneck and survived. I spent time giving her rehab in the bathtub so she could learn to move again, but she always walked with a bit of a limp afterwards. She was devoted to me, however.