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Caring for Duck Eggs

28 Questions

Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.

June 16, 2013

About 6 hours ago, we found 9 duck eggs in front of our house in our flower bed under our bush. When we opened the front door the duck mom left, she did not come back. We are worried. I have a small basket and I've put a soft blanket underneath and we've put all 9 eggs in the basket. I covered them with a tea towel and two soft table cloths. The basket is now in the garage. Our questions:

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What do we do now?
How do we take care of the eggs?
Will the mom come back?
Do we put the eggs back?
Please give us some answers, it is urgent.

By Victoria

Answers

June 25, 20130 found this helpful
Best Answer

I would suggest putting the eggs back where they were. The mama may come back to them. Do not leave the blanket or anything with the eggs! If she doesn't come back in the next day or so,put the eggs back in the basket with the blanket. You will need to hang a light of some kind (for warmth) about a foot or so from them.

Also, turn the eggs over at least twice a day.That's what we did when we found our duck dead.We had about 12 eggs in all. All of them hatched out in about two weeks, except for one. We gave them away to our farmer friend. LOL
There is a chance that the mama will come back! Give her a chance first before you do anything else. Good Luck, Kathy

 
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May 3, 2012

We had a mallard hen lay 11 eggs, 1 was broken. She sat and hardly ever left. We thought they would start hatching about the 4th. We've been checking off and on. She was there Monday! Today she is not there and 3 shells are broken there is down in the nest.

By Teri

Answers

May 18, 20120 found this helpful
Best Answer

I don't know for sure, but I get Birds and Blooms Magazine and read it cover to cover every time. If I remember correctly, one of the articles said that they do come back. She may be coming back at night and leaving in the morning to eat.

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You can try taking one egg and try hatching it yourself but these efforts usually do not come to fruitation unless you are absolutely sure you know what you are doing. So if you try it, don't be too disappointed if the egg does not hatch.

 
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May 29, 2017

We found one lone, what we believe to be a mallard egg, in our ornamental grass. Should we do anything?

Caring for a Duck Nest with an Egg
 

Answers


Silver Post Medal for All Time! 255 Posts
May 29, 20170 found this helpful

Leave it be. The mom will sit on it when she is done laying. If you go messing with it or moving it, she will not come back to it.

 

Gold Post Medal for All Time! 677 Posts
May 29, 20170 found this helpful

Leave it alone. The duck will come and go until she lays the final egg. She will then sit on it. If you touch it she will think there is a predator around and will not come back.

 

Gold Feedback Medal for All Time! 949 Feedbacks
May 31, 20170 found this helpful

There is not a lot you can do except just wait and see if she returns. Since there is only one egg and she has not returned, she has probably found what she thinks is a safer place. Mallards usually lay one egg a day and only nest when they have between 8-12 eggs.

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Here is a link to information about the mallards:

wildliferehabber.com/.../duck-information

 

Gold Feedback Medal for All Time! 949 Feedbacks
June 5, 20170 found this helpful

If the egg was gone then hopefully she found a safer place to build her nest. It is possible she knew a predator was in that area and her nest would not be safe so she did not continue laying her eggs there.
Who knows, maybe she is still close by and you may have the opportunity to see her babies in the coming months.
It is nice that you are concerned so I hope good fortune smiles on you for caring about these little creatures.

 
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My cat gave me what looks to be a duck egg, I put it under a lamp that is about 30°c and put some wool around it, it was still rather warm when she gave it me. Any hopes of it surviving or do you think it's already dead?


Answers


Gold Post Medal for All Time! 677 Posts
May 8, 20180 found this helpful

Duck eggs take about 3 weeks to hatch. If it doesn't hatch by then, it's no good.

 

Silver Post Medal for All Time! 255 Posts
May 8, 20180 found this helpful

Most likely not, and you would need either a duck hen or an incubator. A light or lamp won't do it. We have raised chickens and ducks for years on our farm.

 

Bronze Post Medal for All Time! 107 Posts
May 10, 20180 found this helpful

the main problem is you really don't know how long it's been sitting there for. Possibly a vet or a wildlife expert has some machinery that could aid you in that but chances are you'd be incubating a rotten egg

 
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May 26, 2019

I have this unknown kind of egg from the lake. Can we hatch it?

Hatching a Found Egg - hand holding a green egg
 

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April 17, 2019

I rescued a couple of duck eggs from a raccoon and I have them on a heating pad with wet paper towels around them. I don't have the money to make or buy an incubator so I am wondering what I can do to keep these eggs alive and hatch them?


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Gold Post Medal for All Time! 677 Posts
April 17, 20190 found this helpful

You need a consistent temperature of 99.5. If you have another heat source it could work.

 

Bronze Answer Medal for All Time! 111 Answers
April 21, 20190 found this helpful

Make sure you turn them periodically and keep them damp.

 
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June 2, 2017

I had a wood duck lay 9 eggs in my planter. The ducklings finally hatched yesterday. This morning she had most of them out and on the ground headed toward the pond, but left 2 ducklings behind. I was able to pick them up with my gloves and reunited them with their mom and off they went. When I got home from work, I realized there is one unhatched egg in my planter. Should I do anything with it? Or leave it alone? I assume mom won't come back. Will this hatch without me doing anything to it? It is warm today and the sun is on the planter. It's about 78 degrees out. Thanks!


Answers


Gold Post Medal for All Time! 677 Posts
June 2, 20170 found this helpful

I would leave it alone. Hopefully she will come back.

 

Silver Post Medal for All Time! 255 Posts
June 3, 20170 found this helpful

Leave it alone. Never miss with nature, as nature has a way of taking care of itself and if we interfere, we often miss it up. Sometimes an unfertilized egg gets laid in her clutch.

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The momma knows and leaves it. Usually they all hatch within 24 hours of each other, as they don't start to develop until the momma starts to sit after the last one is laid.

 
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May 18, 2017

I was gardening and accidentally broke an egg. Will this broken egg keep the duck from returning to the other eggs?


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Gold Post Medal for All Time! 677 Posts
May 19, 20170 found this helpful

It probably will. The duck will think there is a predator.

 

Gold Feedback Medal for All Time! 949 Feedbacks
May 20, 20170 found this helpful

It is difficult to tell but the mother may decide to stay anyway. How long has she been off the nest? Are the eggs still warm? These are the deciding factors about whether is planning to return.

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There is a lot of information about this subject on ThrifyFun.

www.thriftyfun.com/Caring-for-Duck-Eggs.html

Here is an official web site with a lot of information about wild ducks:

wildliferehabber.com/.../duck-information

 
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April 20, 2020

I was working on a construction site and along the fence line there was a mallard duck with a nest full of eggs. She had gotten killed by a predator. So I collected the eggs and put them in my warm car.

At the end of my work shift they went into an incubator. What are the chances of survival? It was cold last night.

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February 23, 2020

Yesterday I found a single duck egg in my neighbor's backyard. He had been doing some yard work and there was no mother in sight. The egg was cold, so I brought the egg inside. I'm not even sure it's a duck egg, but it seems like one. I'm not exactly sure how to car for it. I placed it in a small bowl thing with a dry washcloth around it in an old hermit crab cage. I placed the cage in a cupboard with a desk lamp hovering above it in the cupboard. I periodically spritzed it with warm water and turned the egg a bit, as it said to do on various websites.

Today we bought a heat lamp because I felt the desk lamp wasn't producing enough heat. Now I have the egg sitting in a warm moist towel underneath the heat lamp. I have already tried the flashlight trick to see if the embryo is even living and there was a small reddish area near the top side of the egg. Am I taking good care of it? Does anyone think it is living? Should I spray it with water or keep it in the moist towel? Is there any way I can find out how old it is? Thank you!

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May 9, 2017

I live in a house where my back yard is a canal, where ducks live. We have about 6 ducks, they have chicks and lay eggs frequently. But today, my four-month old female puppy bought an egg to my backyard door. I picked up the egg gently and it had a tiny crack, but it was still warm, I looked everywhere in my yard, and I couldn't find a nest anywhere!

I went back inside and smelled the egg, it didn't smell bad at all. I put a wool sweater in a shoebox. I wrapped the egg in a warm towel and placed it in the box and put the box under a light. I also put tape on the crack. I have no idea what to do! Is there a possibility it's still alive?

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Gold Post Medal for All Time! 677 Posts
May 10, 20170 found this helpful

It could be alive. Keep it warm and see what happens!

 
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May 8, 2017

If there are broken wild mallard duck eggs in a nest in my garden will the mother come back? She's laid about 10 eggs over almost 2 weeks. Then stayed on the nest for 2 days and left.

Now it's been just about 2 more days, and a few eggs are broken and we haven't seen her. Should I try to incubate? The temps are likely to be be in the high 30s tonight.

Answers


Gold Post Medal for All Time! 677 Posts
May 8, 20170 found this helpful

The duck will come back after she has laid her last egg. If she doesn't come back, you could try putting the eggs in an incubator.

 
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March 30, 2007

I found a duck egg. I don't know how to tell if it's still alive. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Chaeda from Columbia, MD

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September 27, 2016

This is a page about incubation time for duck eggs. Wild ducks sometimes lay their eggs where we can watch them, sit and incubate the eggs, hoping to see the babies when they hatch.

Duck in nest with eggs

August 24, 2016

Sometimes you may find what appears to be an abandoned duck nest. This is a page about an abandoned duck nest.

Six duck eggs in a nest

June 2, 2016

This page is about incubating duck eggs. If you don't have a broody mother duck, an incubator can help you hatch poultry eggs.

Baby ducks hatching in an incubator

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