Duck eggs

[Pondlife]

Hi. On our local pond, a white female domestic duck now resides, along with wild mallards, so iv put a duck house on the pond, and she lays lots of eggs in it, my question is, could they be fertilized as the male mallards do jump on her back as if mating! Wev took 10 eggs to eat, but what if they were fertilized!! She doesn’t seem to sit on them though.

 

[Isaac 0]

If you have seen the mallard on top of the Pekin most likely the eggs are fertile, you can check for fertility by cracking the egg in a small bowl, if you see a white dot with outer white rings your egg is fertile if you only see a dot the egg is most likely infertile. Pekins are not known for there mothering skills or instinct to go broody, so chances are she won't try to hatch the eggs.

 

[cheezenkwackers]

If you collect your eggs every day it doesn't matter if the eggs are fertile or not. A duck will lay an egg a day until her nest is full. Then, she sits on the eggs and development of the baby begins. So, the only difference between a fertile and an infertile egg is how much DNA is in the one little cell that is the white dot on the yolk. An infertile egg has half as much DNA in it. You can tell if an egg was fertile or not by looking at that white dot. A fertile egg has a larger white dot and you can sometimes see a bullseye around it. In the picture below, the top egg is infertile and the bottom egg is fertile.
Anyway, I have five girls and one boy duck so all of our eggs are fertile and they taste delicious!

 

[Pondlife]

Hi thanks , so if we just left them would they not hatch anyway? Also, the eggs are quite large and white, would they be off her and not the mallards? The mallards always end up with ducklings, but herons etc do take some we think! Out of about 10 they’re lucky if 2-3 survive! Would the wild ducks lay in a duck house? It’s the first year the house has been there so we are guessing who’s eggs they are. Thanks

 

[cheezenkwackers]

If they are large and white they are from your Pekin. Mallard eggs are smaller and blue/green, if I remember correctly. Domestic ducks have been bred to not sit on their eggs. Some will still set on a nest (go broody) but most will not. So yes, the eggs would most likely not hatch. You can put some in an incubator if you want to hatch them. Otherwise, eat them, yummy!

 

[Pondlife]

Thanks for the help !