Ducks first nest, how do I handle the eggs?

[hatykuber]

I have two female ducks, a buff and a khaki Campbell. We had a buff drake until Sunday, it is now Wednesday. Didn't get any eggs from the girls until the drake was gone, now there are three eggs in a nest. The girls like to lay in there together, but I think they are buff eggs. I would like to let them sit and see if we can get some ducklings. I have never done this before and want to do it right. Can I handle the eggs without momma fussing about it? Both girls are very sweet, I just want to make sure they will still accept the eggs after I mess with them. I would like to mark the eggs to keep track of their order, because I might put a couple in an incubator since this is the ducks first time. Any advice is very appreciated, I want to keep my girls happy and make sure I'm doing things right. Thank you!

 

[hatykuber]

Also, I found one of the eggs for the first time yesterday and I was so excited I brought it right inside and we were debating what to do with it since it's probably fertile. We decided to put it back in the nest. I didn't see any other eggs, but I could have missed one. Then this morning there were three. Hopefully I didn't do any harm by bringing the one egg in. It was only for about an hour and I handled it gently.

 

[chickens really]

Well, just because they laid eggs does not mean they will set the eggs.....you might want to try incubating them yourself?

Cheers....!

 

[TLWR]

You can mark them daily since they aren't sitting. Then if they don't start to sit on their own, take some in an incubate them