Open range Pekin duck nesting + some other questions

[Apollos-Quackers]

Hi Everyone! It's been a while!! COVID has been keeping me B U S Y !! (Babysitting for essential working daughters ) My Pekin ducks born on Mother's Day (19 weeks) have started mating. I have 1 drake and 3 hens (and a young female Mallard that's been adopted by them). I've been told I should make nesting boxes and put fake eggs in them to encourage nesting in specific areas. With my ducks openly roaming by day (keeping in mind we have Northern winters) and are put in a house with a small run at night, my questions are:

1. Where should I put nesting spots?
2. What should nesting boxes for ducks look like?
3. What's the best nesting material to use?
4. What type of fake eggs should I use?
5. Will the Mallard know how to fly and migrate being alone? (The rest of her family I assume was lost to predators. She does her own thing at night because we humans are scary to her.)

Any other information and advice would be appreciated. The eggs will be collected for consumption, so I'd like to keep track of where they're laying.

 

[RShayne]

1. Can you post a picture of the duck house, does the roof raise up or can you get inside it? If so the duck house with dividers would be fine for a nesting area. Peking like to lay eggs in the morning, our routine was they don't get to forage until 11AM.

2. Metzer has a nice article on dividers Click Here

3. We always used straw.

4. Local farm supply should have what you need or golf balls. But it may not work. Peking are the worse mothers I have ever seen, I have watch a hen start to walk towards our pond, stop lay an egg get up and continue to walk and she never looked back. Do not let them go broody it would be rare if she actually hatched something and they are probably going to die (they will not defend young). Collect the eggs and use them in cakes, pastries, and cheese cakes.

5. She may not migrate or you could wake up one day and she is gone. Mallard are awesome mothers but she will lay in a hidden spot and your Peking may lay in her nest.

 

[Apollos-Quackers]

Thanks SO much for commenting! I've responding in-line under your responses in italics. Btw... the dividers link wouldn't open for me :-/

1. Can you post a picture of the duck house, does the roof raise up or can you get inside it? If so the duck house with dividers would be fine for a nesting area. Peking like to lay eggs in the morning, our routine was they don't get to forage until 11AM.
~ I can get in there, but it's close quarters. It was made of pallets, so it's about a 4'x4' area. I also keep a PVC tube feeder in there that takes up one side. I've been considering expanding it into the run area which is 3'x5', if not even larger...

2. Metzer has a nice article on dividers Click Here

3. We always used straw.
~ We use pine shavings in their house... will that work just as well?

4. Local farm supply should have what you need or golf balls. But it may not work. Peking are the worse mothers I have ever seen, I have watch a hen start to walk towards our pond, stop lay an egg get up and continue to walk and she never looked back. Do not let them go broody it would be rare if she actually hatched something and they are probably going to die (they will not defend young). Collect the eggs and use them in cakes, pastries, and cheese cakes.
~ Newby here... I don't know what is meant by "broody". We do plan to use their eggs for consumption.

5. She may not migrate or you could wake up one day and she is gone. Mallard are awesome mothers but she will lay in a hidden spot and your Peking may lay in her nest.
~ Do I need to worry about my drake with her? If so, could he hurt her? He's twice her size.

 

[RShayne]

Thanks SO much for commenting! I've responding in-line under your responses in italics. Btw... the dividers link wouldn't open for me :-/

Here is the web address, https://metzerfarms.blogspot.com/2011/03/time-to-prepare-those-duck-and-goose.html?m=1

We have always used straw, no clue about pine shaving.

Broody means she is sitting on eggs in an attempt to hatch them.

Mallard will be fine with a Peking.