This is normal right?

[CrazyCrttr75]

It can be normal behavior for a broody but you don’t want her doing that nasty broody poop in her nest so don’t put her feed and water in front of her you want her to get up and go outside. I have a Muscovy brooding right now and yesterday by roost time she hadn’t come out so I went in picked her up butt facing away from me ( learned that lesson the hard way) today she came out on her own. Boy a good thing she did too that broody poop is very nasty and a lot of it. Plus you want her eating and drinking even if she doesn’t eat much? Brooding is tough on them.

Well, shoot. Hubby and I just went and got her some food and bowl of water and we put it right next to her. She was able to reach her neck out and she took a few sips of water and a couple nibbles of food. So maybe that she has at least been enticed to eat and drink a bit, maybe if we move it over towards the wall a bit more she will get up on her own to go eat and drink. I'm just trying to make things as comfortable and conducive for her to sit and do her thing. We closed the door that separates their sleeping quarters and the porch area (where she is nesting). The front ramp folds up and has a latch on each side to lock it in place so she will be safe in there.

We going to see about getting the other 2 to go in at night and come out in the morning out the back of the coop. That way we can hopefully keep Xena from trying to lay her egg in the nest with Annabelle. We also moved the big bowl that we keep their food in. I don't know if it will stay this way or not. Maybe we'll keep it this way or maybe we'll move stuff back. Idk. We'll see how it goes.

 

[WVduckchick]

Right, sometimes you just have to work with what you’ve got. But I agree, she does need to get up occasionally. I never pull one off the nest, unless I’m trying to remove extra eggs. But I’ve only had to do that with chickens, not ducks. I mark the main eggs with black sharpie on the air cell end (easier to look in the same spot on every egg). Usually once they get the clutch they want, they stop letting others add to it, if they can.
And even if you don’t see her get up, just look around for a new big stinky pile of poop! They don’t normally stay off the nest very long, but my weather is hot now and I have 3 ducks sitting and they have been staying off for close to an hour in the evenings. That’s usually when I check the eggs.

Good luck! There’s nothing cuter than a momma duck raising ducklings.