Duncan McKenzie
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- Jun 15, 2020
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I hope I can get some advice from some experienced duck keepers.
A pair of Mallards appeared on our pond a couple of months ago. The female looked as if she was looking for a nest site and so we knocked together a duck house in the middle of the pond away from cats and foxes and she moved in and started laying. We had seen them mating and so assumed that the eggs would be fertile and were looking forward to ducklings.
On 9th May there were at least 5 eggs that we could see and she was on the nest most of the time.
If she laid another 7 eggs at one a day then I assume she would have had a full clutch by the 16th May.
We have absolutely no experience of this and so have been googling like crazy and were expecting something to happen after 28 days which would have been 13th June.
By our calculations, today is more like day 31 or could be much more if she stopped laying at 7 eggs. It could be less if was not laying at 1 egg a day but every second day. She is still on the nest and turning the eggs frequently. The nest is on a floating island in the middle of the pond and so we can't easily get very close to have a better look at anything.
These are wild ducks that appear to have adopted us and we feel somewhat responsible as we built the duck house.
My question is, Will she still be sitting on the nest after all this time if none of the eggs are viable? If so, is it best to try and remove the eggs so that she can try again?
Any advice would be much appreciated.
A pair of Mallards appeared on our pond a couple of months ago. The female looked as if she was looking for a nest site and so we knocked together a duck house in the middle of the pond away from cats and foxes and she moved in and started laying. We had seen them mating and so assumed that the eggs would be fertile and were looking forward to ducklings.
On 9th May there were at least 5 eggs that we could see and she was on the nest most of the time.
If she laid another 7 eggs at one a day then I assume she would have had a full clutch by the 16th May.
We have absolutely no experience of this and so have been googling like crazy and were expecting something to happen after 28 days which would have been 13th June.
By our calculations, today is more like day 31 or could be much more if she stopped laying at 7 eggs. It could be less if was not laying at 1 egg a day but every second day. She is still on the nest and turning the eggs frequently. The nest is on a floating island in the middle of the pond and so we can't easily get very close to have a better look at anything.
These are wild ducks that appear to have adopted us and we feel somewhat responsible as we built the duck house.
My question is, Will she still be sitting on the nest after all this time if none of the eggs are viable? If so, is it best to try and remove the eggs so that she can try again?
Any advice would be much appreciated.
