Hi all;
I have this duck that seems to be a bit broody, she incubate a clutch consisting 17 eggs!! I know that a normal duck clutch will contain 8-12 eggs.. But is it normal or should I remove some of the eggs?
She sits on the eggs for a while and leave them every time the other ducks quack loudly.. And is it normal for a duck to leave her nest so often but come to sit on them later?and why doesnt she sit on them at night? Or does she do it while I'm not aware?
I know that I ask a lot of questions!! But I only raised my ducks for just a year and didn't mastered everything about them yet! You guys can say that I'm still a beginner on poultry!

Firstly do you want ducklings?

It is a bit early for her to have gone broody! She should have only just started laying, do you keep a light on in her house at night?

A large clutch is fine, but they wont all hatch, what breed is she? If her nest is in the same place where her flock bed down at night unless the nest is protected the others will stomp on the eggs, displace her and genrally ruin the incubation prcess. Yes she will come off if disturbed.

What usally happens is she will lay her clutch then start to brood them when she has laid the whole clutch, she will sit for longer and longer until eventually she will only come off for about 5 minutes a day.

If you want her to hatch ducklings I would take this batch away and let her lay another batch in a proper nest box where it will be quiet and protected and then they will hatch a bit later when it's warmer so they have more chance of surviving.
Let me know if you have anymore questions?

What breed is she and how many in your flock? Drakes/ducks etc?
zo
x

Atcually she had two clutches before this this one, so that makes it the third clutch.
Yes, my ducks free range around the house thats why I there is a bit some light where her nest is hidden.
I don't know what breed is she.. But i did post her picture a while ago.
The rest of the flock sleeps few meters away from her nest and she had chosen the nest site very cleverly and well hidden, you can barely see her or the nest because of all the branches around, so I won't worry about anyone or anything stepping on them.
But I had took the past two batches from her.
My duck flock consists of three females and a male... And one female Muscovy.

ahh would love to see a picture of her.

Are they indoor ducks then? Not sure what you meant by house... The light will be what is keeping her laying. It's good for them to have a break over the winter so as not to put too much pressure on their little reproductive systems (and they will lay for more years also if they have a break).

Let her brood a clutch in March April time, that way they will have a better chance of survival if they are outdoors.
x

No!! How can you keep ducks indoors lol!! I meant around as in the garden, garage, etc!!
So what can I do to this clutch? Should I take it from her?
If so, what can I do with eggs? I used my pigeons to incubate her old clutches some eggs managed to hatch that way....
She have been incubating for 5-9 days now, are they consumable that way? Because I don't want a pink little embryo in my plate lol!!

You would be surprised how many people think it's ok to keep ducks inside the house! Personally I think it's not good for their behaviour or welfare.

Erm what to do with the eggs..... if she hasn't been brooding them properly then they may be ok to eat? Otherwise you could cook them up and feed them to the birds. We do this with our goose eggs, make scrambled eggs mix them with kitchen bits and feed to the chickens, they love it.

I would take away this clutch, they would hatch too early.

How can they handle the duck wastes all over the house!?
Alright then.... The clutch will be taken away! Thanks for the advices!

They put duck nappies on them!

I like it, never heard of them before where you get them from?

mitch

you can't get them here, thank god, it's mostly in the usa.