Sitting a nest for 2 months?!?

[1duckychick]

My runner has been sitting on a nest for almost 2 months now and I'm not sure what to do.

We had just moved into a new place a few months back and both girls had stopped laying (I assumed it was due to the stress of the move and adjusting to their new environment). Well, apparently she started laying again at some point and had been hiding the eggs. Then one day she was nesting and she was serious! I didn't want to try getting the eggs out from under her so I waited and watched...and waited and about a week later she finally took a break and came out of the pen to take a dip in the kiddie pool. I snuck into the pen and retrieved about 15 eggs! I thought I got them all but the very next day I went out to the pen and found her sitting on her nest and she wasn;t budging. I wasn't sure if there were more eggs or if she was just dense! So I waited again and a few days later I got my opportunity to check and found 6 more eggs in the nest - and this time I dug through the hay all the way to the floor. Next day though she was back on the nest! A few more days go by and I spot 3 eggs in the nest but now she's wised up and she won't leave the pen. A couple more days go by and one morning I go in the pen and find my other female butt-end in the nest with the determined runner and there are now 5 eggs! Since then, they are each laying an egg a day in this nest and the runner won't leave the pen.

Is this normal or is this something that could end up being a major concern? I can't imagine this is healthy for her. And I can't see how anything would ever hatch out. Should I traumatize her and raid the nest and put an end to this will she just start back up again the next day? I mean, it's single digit weather here - wth is she thinking?!?

 

[duckyfromoz]

After two months- she has probably lost a lot of weight- and I would worry about her being that it is so cold there. Can you remove her from the nest and cage her up for a few days somewhere she cant make a nest. It needs to be somewhere there is no hay or straw or grass or anything she could use to make a nest. You would also have to remove the eggs from the nest and break it up so she wont go back there when you let her out. I have often covered areas with a piece of board to try and stop them laying in certain areas.

 

[spish]

or could you get some ducklings from somewhere and sneak them under her one night so she *thinks* they hatched?

 

[1duckychick]

She doesn't seem to have lost weight. She gets off the nest to eat and drink, just not when anyone's in the pen with her. I can move her and get the eggs out of there, I just don't want to traumatize her so she freaks out every time she sees me!

And I would TOTALLY go with the baby duckling bait-n-switch routine if it wasn't so freaking cold and snowy here!

 

[ejctm]

You could always order some hatching eggs, which will give you a month for the weather to warm up before they hatch (and feed ducky lots of high calorie treats and vitamins to make up for any loss in condition).

Or, just break that broody! I do it to my chickens by laying sheets of wire mesh where they want to brood, so their underneath always has air flowing around it. It is the warm cosy tummy in the nest that keeps them feeling broody.

Could you just remove the nesting areas/boxes completely for a week? It would mean a week of wasted eggs as they would be laid anywhere else, but might just be enough to deter them?