MummyDuckNovice
Hatching
- Jul 12, 2020
- 5
- 1
- 3
Hi all,
This is the first time I have posted on here.
I need some advice about some duck eggs that I am currently trying to incubate (in a box with lots of radiators around it and damp towels).
A duck nested in a flower bed on the train platform where I work during lockdown (was so quiet she probably thought it was a safe place). Anyway, today the ducklings started hatching and almost immediately were running towards the railway tracks and being attacked by some nasty seagulls that had been lurking. So we were trying to herd her babies back to her and scare away the seagulls.
Mummy duck got extremely distressed by all this and flew away - abandoning her ducklings and two unhatched eggs.
We put the ducklings and the eggs into a box with towels and waited on the platform for over an hour hoping she would come back.
She did not. :’(
So we took the ducklings to a wildlife haven to keep them safe - but they said they wouldn’t take the unhatched eggs.
So I am completely inexperienced and have no idea what I am doing, and I am trying to incubate the eggs without an incubator!
But really my main question is - is it worth trying? Could they still hatch? Or did she abandon them knowing that they were not going to live? 6 other ducklings hatched within 6 hours of each other this morning before she left the nest - so should these babies have already hatched or should I persevere for a few days just in case?
I would feel terrible if I stopped keeping them warm and trying for them if they had a chance at life!
This is the first time I have posted on here.
I need some advice about some duck eggs that I am currently trying to incubate (in a box with lots of radiators around it and damp towels).
A duck nested in a flower bed on the train platform where I work during lockdown (was so quiet she probably thought it was a safe place). Anyway, today the ducklings started hatching and almost immediately were running towards the railway tracks and being attacked by some nasty seagulls that had been lurking. So we were trying to herd her babies back to her and scare away the seagulls.
Mummy duck got extremely distressed by all this and flew away - abandoning her ducklings and two unhatched eggs.
We put the ducklings and the eggs into a box with towels and waited on the platform for over an hour hoping she would come back.
She did not. :’(
So we took the ducklings to a wildlife haven to keep them safe - but they said they wouldn’t take the unhatched eggs.
So I am completely inexperienced and have no idea what I am doing, and I am trying to incubate the eggs without an incubator!
But really my main question is - is it worth trying? Could they still hatch? Or did she abandon them knowing that they were not going to live? 6 other ducklings hatched within 6 hours of each other this morning before she left the nest - so should these babies have already hatched or should I persevere for a few days just in case?
I would feel terrible if I stopped keeping them warm and trying for them if they had a chance at life!