How to tell if a duck will go broody?

[boxermizer]

I have a duck that has been covering her eggs with hay, so I was hoping she would go broody. I was told they would lay 12-15 eggs before sitting. She now has 17. She is about 2 years old herself and never gone broody before. She's a cross between a Khaki Campbell and Rouen, I think (I don't know my duck breeds well, but she hatched from my current ducks).
1) Any idea if covering her eggs is a sign that she will go broody? I've never had a duck cover her eggs or go broody before (plenty of experience with chickens, who have even hatched ducklings, but the longer gestation period doesn't work well, so I kept that from happening this year when my bantam hens went broody).
2) How many eggs is she likely to lay before going broody, or is 17 a sign she's not going to go broody and I should just collect the eggs? I don't have many ducks and would like more so I'd really like her to go broody, but I also don't want to waste eggs. She already did this once this summer and when she got to about 12 an opossum family ate all of them

. She didn't lay eggs for a couple days afterward.

 

[Bird_Lover_17]

Hi, I am not an expert on broody hens/ ducks, nor am I an expert in ducks, but here are some signs your bird is broody:
*She bites you when you are near her
*she rarely leaves for food- and she is dedicated to her nest
*she has a large clutch of eggs- around the teens #

When it comes to your question on collecting eggs, it's up to you. If you want her to have ducklings (about 17) then sure, leave her alone, let her attempt to hatch them. If you don't want/ can't handle more ducks, then take her eggs away from her. She will be confused, but don't worry.

 

[AngelaY]

Ok, I'm about to get emotional here...
My duck Guinevere went broody twice this year. If yours does go broody then be prepared for lots of heart break. The first time she had six eggs, two disappeared one broke a few days before she was supposed to hatch and died in my hands covered in blood and yolk. One hatched and died an hour later. The last two died halfway through hatching. We went to the farm store to get some baby ducks for guin to adopt and a week later both of them disappeared in the middle of the night. It was devastating. The second time it was just one egg. I figured I'd let her try to hatch it because I felt bad for her. It hatched and was a happy little baby, she had a loving mom, a proud papa, and an extadic grandmother (me). Everyone loved her. She made it 2.5 weeks before she disappeared in the night on July 26th. My mom's birthday. I didn't tell anyone all day. I pretended to be happy for my mom. And I cried myself to sleep.

I'm sorry if I'm a party pooper about this but I wanted you to know what you're getting into. But just know that even though all of that happened, I absolutely don't regret letting her hatch, heart break and wisdom often come hand in hand, I believe I gained quite a bit of wisdom from that experience. Emotional ranting over.

Make sure that the nest is 100% safe and that there's no way that the babies could or even want to get out. But most importantly, make. Sure. That. No. Predators. Can. Get. In. I think it was rats that took my babies. They're sneaky. Keep them out.

But if your duck is broody then she will not want to get off of the nest but when she does get off of the nest she will be LOUD about it, drawing attention away from her nest and onto herself. When she's ON the nest she will be VERY quiet, and she'll hiss if you get too close for comfort. Is she sitting on the nest consistently?