Nest sharing?

Alison · **Posted:** Mon Nov 29, 2010 5:48 am

Hi All,

One of my runner ducks has made a nest in the corner of the goat shed. Not the best place, given she has to have me in there milking each day, and there are two young kids who think the world is a playground, but top marks for picking a place the crows don't go! Anyway, I noticed that there were lots of eggs in there - more than she could be laying herself (2 eggs one day - 5 the next!). It turns out that two of the muscovy ducks are also hanging about until she either leaves the nest, ganging up on her to encourage her to leave, or just laying right beside her and their eggs are in the nest too. There is nowhere else dry I can take the goats (4 inches of rain in one day is just OTT!), and I realise that there will be a gap between the runner duck's eggs hatching and the muscovies. Should I just take the muscovy eggs out? (In which case - how do I tell which are theirs!?), leave it all alone and hope for the best? I can shut a gate to close off that section of the shed, but that will only give her a couple of square metres and she's used to a few acres and a dam; she's about the same size as the kids, so any duck-sized entrance will fit them as well.

There are 14 eggs there now!
Any suggestions gratefully received :-)
Ali

Roova · **Posted:** Mon Nov 29, 2010 7:01 am

You need to mark the eggs you think are hers, or whichever ones you're going to be leaving in the nest for her to sit on, so any new eggs can be removed. Non toxic markers are helpful here. Hopefully you can tell by looking at them which eggs are slightly different and remove the ones you don't think are hers. I would imagine the Muscovy eggs would be slightly bigger, although I've never seen a Runners eggs.

When she goes broody you should block her off with food and water so the other ducks can't continue laying in her nest. She'll need to be able to regularly have a bath though, this is how they keep the correct humidity up to their eggs. They don't stay dry like chicken eggs.

The reason for making sure all the eggs are incubated at the same time is to stop eggs being at different stages of development. Often after the first couple hatch Mum is ready to leave the nest with them and will leave unhatched eggs behind. Also if she is disturbed by other ducks ganging up on her you don't want her abandoning the nest half way through the incubation process.

Good luck with the hatch

Alison · **Posted:** Mon Nov 29, 2010 5:57 pm

Thanks Roova - I'm keeping an eye out for when she is next off the nest. She seems to be ok with me in the shed milking now as long as I don't make eye contact! She stayed put all the time this morning and seems to be resisting the other ducks pressures as well. So far the kids seem to leave her pretty much alone... I'll see if I can tell any difference between the eggs, and just take all of one sort I think. The incubator already has some eggs in it, or I'd pop them in there... If anybody is in the Bendigo area and after some eggs let me know!
thanks again - much appreciated!
cheers,
Ali

Roova · **Posted:** Mon Nov 29, 2010 6:00 pm

Just in case you end up keeping all the Muscovy eggs by accident maybe keep a selection to make sure there's a chance of some of them being runners?? If thats what you're hoping for of course :-D

. Good luck!

Ben n Deb · **Posted:** Mon Nov 29, 2010 9:09 pm

Perhaps try putting another nesting box next to hers with the eggs you think are the Muscovy's. This may encourage the others to lay there. Just make sure the runner duck can't see those eggs from her nest or she will keep trying to put them back into her nest! :roll:

Alison · **Posted:** Tue Nov 30, 2010 12:01 pm

I think the ducks must be lurking here and read your suggestion Ben n Deb! I went down to milk the goat and the runner duck is staying put on her nest, and the muscovy has made herself comfortable beside her with her own egg. I was able to take away the extra eggs from under the runner duck; since she has been sitting now for a couple of days I didn't move them over to the muscovy nest though, as she is still laying. Fingers crossed this works! The kids have hollowed out a space beside the muscovy, so it's pretty much "duck, duck, goat!" :-D

Now if the turkeys would just keep out of the shed...

Ali

AUSTRALIAN POULTRY FORUM™

Nest sharing?

Who is on the Forum