I have this black and white duck. She made a nest in the bush near a lake, and laid one egg down in it. She left the egg though and came in to her coop like usual. I know she is supposed to lay up to thirteen more or so. Is she supposed to sit on them when there is only one still there or should I incubate it?
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The duck will sit on the eggs when all are hatched. I would leave this egg alone.
Since this is a 'tame' duck, she may not act the same as one in the wild. Have your ducks made their nests outside their area and taken care of them properly before?
So she did lay another egg in the same spot, but I am afraid that a squirrel or a raccoon got to the eggs in the night. She stopped laying there after that happened, and now I can not find her eggs anywhere. She did not protect any of them during the night and went in her coop with the other ducks.
I think your duck is now afraid because of what happened to her previous eggs and will try to find a much more secluded area.
Sometimes you can 'watch' them to try and see where they are headed but they are smart and may just not go to their nest.
I advise you to wait and not touch the egg. She is not supposed to sit on one egg.
Ducks can lay eggs for up to 10 days before incubation begins - pre-incubation period. During this pre-incubation period ducks may leave the nest.
Do you have a male duck?
Without a male duck, all eggs will be infertile and not ok for incubation. But even with a male duck, not all eggs can be fertile. You can tell whether or not duck eggs are fertile by a process known as candling - the application of bright light to an egg to see what is inside. www.metzerfarms.com/
Give her a couple of days to return, keep the nesting area peaceful. As a general rule, fertilized eggs can survive for a maximum of 7 days under 70 °F (21 °C), the cell division of the fertilized egg slows down below 79° F (26° C) and completely stops below 70° F (21° C).
Yes, I do have a male duck. She was doing what I thought she would do. She laid an egg each morning, but did not sit on any of them. She did this only two days though. A raccoon or a squirrel found her nest unfortunately and now she is laying else where. Only problem is that I dont know where.
Usually ducks lay one egg per day, but this depends on the breed.
There are many black and white duck breeds:
Muscovy ducks lay 8-15 eggs per nesting with an incubation period of 30-31 days.
She did lay another egg in the morning. Like you said it was really hot, so she did not sit on them. Unfortunately a raccoon or a squirrel in the night ate the two eggs that she had laid. She has not laid any eggs there since the incident, and I can not find where she is laying the rest, as she only laid about three so far.
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