Duck/eggs/freezing temp situation.....

[Sassy1967]

My Mallard hen has been laying eggs for several weeks, but she kept moving her nest. She finally picked a spot she's happy with (in our garden) and laid an egg a day for a week and a half. The 2 Drakes and the hen willingly go in the chicken coop with our chickens at night. Last night, it got down to 28 degrees and of course, she wasn't sitting on her nest. But today, she sat on the nest all day and didn't retire to the chicken coop with the drakes and chickens. So, I left her sitting on her little nest in the garden. My question is this,...Are the eggs ruined because it got below freezing last night? Should I remove the eggs so than she can go back into the chicken coop at night for safety's sake or just let her be? Not sure what to do. This is our first time with a brooding Mallard hen and of course it would be when the weather is getting cold! Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

If she sat all day, then left them in below freezing temps then I'd say the eggs are done.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

I can't tell you what to do, but I can tell you that my first broody chicken was a hen that thought the middle of a Maine winter was a great time to sit and hatch chicks. Being a chicken, her brain was the size of a pea and she would often get off the nest and then return to a different nest. By the time I got home her sitting eggs would be bitter cold (because it was way below freezing). She still managed to hatch 75% of them despite that.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I'd be more concerned with her being out all night with out prtection from predators.

 

[Sassy1967]

She actually started sitting on them after the freeze last night. We were in the process of getting their very own enclosure and moving them into it this weekend in case this happened,..but she beat us to the punch. Now I don't know what to do. I'm afraid if I move her nest, she'll abandon the eggs. It really bothers me that she's out there without protection, but she wouldn't leave the nest to go into the chicken coop with the drakes.

 

[TLWR]

Quote:
So move her nest and if she doesn't sit on it after moving, oh well. I'd rather have a safe duck than a duck sitting on eggs with no protection from predators.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
So move her nest and if she doesn't sit on it after moving, oh well. I'd rather have a safe duck than a duck sitting on eggs with no protection from predators.

X2

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

Quote:
So move her nest and if she doesn't sit on it after moving, oh well. I'd rather have a safe duck than a duck sitting on eggs with no protection from predators.

A duck will rarely ever continue sitting on eggs when you disturb her nest, a chicken maybe, but not a duck.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
So move her nest and if she doesn't sit on it after moving, oh well. I'd rather have a safe duck than a duck sitting on eggs with no protection from predators.

A duck will rarely ever continue sitting on eggs when you disturb her nest, a chicken maybe, but not a duck.

If you decide to move her, be sure to do it at night and close her up where she can't leave the nest for a few days till she gets use to her new nesting place. Wishing you the best. And hoping she'll continue to sit on them after the move.

PS I would move her and nesting material along with eggs all at once if possible.