Rural Gardening: Muscovy mothers' behavior question, 0 by DebinSC

DebinSC wrote:
Hello everyone. I live about 100 yds from a large pond with a healthy population of Muscovy ducks (and mallards, and Chinese geese, too!). The Muscovies often nest in our yard. Recently, a young female sat on a nest in our back yard for the normal amount of time. We came home one day to see the empty shells and assumed they were off to the pond. The next day, the mom came back visiting but without ducklings. Oddly, a couple of weeks later, another even younger female showed up with 7 little ones. This one, had been around alot, too much to have been sitting on a nest for a month. My question is: Is it possible, or has anyone ever heard of one mamma "giving" her babies to another to raise? This is a real mystery for us. The pic is a few of the young'uns in question. (I do wish their mom wouldn't let them sit in the road like that!)
Every time a female has nested by our house, she has returned a few weeks later with ducklings in tow, to 'visit".
Thanks,
Deb