Bad smell and flys

[DB8088]

About a month ago we had a duck lay 13 eggs in our yard. Both mother and father have been very attentive, the mother spends most of her time on the eggs. Recently there's been a bad smell and lots of flys hanging around and the eggs appear to be dirty, or blotchy, the mother remains attentive as ever. Is the duck dirty? Are the eggs bad? Should we do anything, or wait it out a little longer?

 

[sonew123]

duck eggs should hatch in 28 days +/- a day--if she's been on them longer than a month--they are probably bad-thay and the moisture, dirty mess they attract and make will keep bringing flies and stench-sorry

 

[DB8088]

Thanks for responding. That's too bad. The mother appears distressed (I think) and she's been so attentive. I believe it's been over a month now. I'm guessing she'll figure it out eventually and just abandon the nest, right?

 

[Duck Keeper]

Have you ever SMELLED an exploded rotten egg?

You'd fall over and die!




I'm thinking you may want to candle them, throw out the stinkers and non-developing ones, then maybe, just maybe, she'll continue sitting. But if she hasn't been sitting on them the entire time, just throw them out, because she may not finish.

By attentive, do you mean her rear is glued to those eggs (so to speak), or that she checks/lays more on them, but doesn't sit?
Just to be certain, what breed is she and the daddy duck?

Some breeds do not get broody and hatch out eggs, like pekins, khaki campbels and other production type strains. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule, but if your duck is one of the breeds that normally doesn't sit, don't expect her to.

 

[charlindabob]

If it is a Muscovy duck, it takes much longer than 28 days to hatch, usually around 35-36 days.

 

[charlindabob]

Oh, I forgot to add.....if there is a bad smell and flies, you can take it to the bank that something is wrong. Probably not the duck, but a rotten egg that has broken. Maybe all of them are bad. If you can catch the duck off the nest, you can remove the bad ones. Put them in a plastic bag and seal as the smell can be quite offensive.

 

[DB8088]

Thanks for the replies. I don't know what kind of duck, just a local, Florida, pond duck. She is most definitely glued to those eggs, much more so then at the beginning. I hadn't thought one, or more had only broken, or gone bad, great idea and I'll check it out. I'll let you know what I find.

 

[goosedragon]

I use a plastic bag to remove a bad egg. Just put the bag inside out over the egg and pull it all the way in. That way if the egg explodes the mess is confined to the bag. I came up with this after Picking up a bucket of bad eggs, one went off and then there was this stinky chain reaction. Got the stink all over me and my clothes.

 

[DB8088]

OK, got the mother off the eggs with food, checked the eggs out and 3 are missing. The remaining 12 are all dark and blotchy with flys all over them. None are broken. She remains diligent as ever. Should I wait a little longer, or get rid of them? The smell is pretty bad.

 

[adrian]

Well, healthy, developing baby ducks are not going to smell horrible and are not going to have flies gathering to them. I think that's a pretty good rule of thumb.