Its lovely to see this little bird and she is so protective and proud of her brood of four - she hasnt left the nest at all since the babies hatched two days ago - she is sharing with an abacot ranger who seems to sit when she goes out - and is now her alarm system - she warns us off and hides the babies. Should I let this little bird continue sitting - if not how do I move her to remove eggs and encourage her to look after those already hatched - she has done so well i dont want to put her off - but dont actually want thousands of ducks either.... One of the babies got out of the duck house yesterday and neither of them went looking for it - i found it chasing my rather confused pekin! So not sure what mothering there is going to be and dont want to have to bring them in to a brooder. I am going to fence off the hen house today to make it a baby safe area - the little duck was also trying to get in the pond..
Is the Abacot Ranger actually broody and sitting full time now- or just ramdomly?? If she is you could remove the Runner with her four babies carefully from the nest area and put her in a safe secure area of her own to care for the babies- and leave the other duck to continue sitting on the eggs. You may need to remove some of them down to a number that she can cover.
