Ducks Laying in the Water??

[JAPJRGIRL21]

Okay need some advice and assistance. My buff orpington ducks , 2 male & 2 female, are laying their eggs in our pond...is this normal? Can the eggs still be eaten? Can I incubate them still? Is this normal or really weird? And yes, they have been provided a place to lay, but once the pond went in, they went in and only come out if I am feeding all of the other animals. HELP please.

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

I don't eat 'pond eggs' I let my 7year old DS break them in the duck or chicken run, so they aren't wasted.

 

[GMT]

Quote:
A) Yes. Ducks have this nasty habit of sometimes dropping eggs wherever the mood strikes them. Especially some of the laying breeds, whose maternal instincts seem to have been bred right out of them. Wherever you confine them at night, provide some sort of nesting enclosure with a few egg surrogates (pronounced: "golf balls") inside to encourage the ducks to lay in the nest box. Also, try letting them out later in the morning, as ducks like to do their laying very early in the morning. A question: Are they being confined in some sort of shelter at night? Or has the pond become their shelter?
B) No, don't eat pond eggs. The natural protective coating that forms on them in a dry nest doesn't form in the bottom of a pond, eggshells are porous, and duck ponds aren't known for their hygienic qualities.
C) No, don't incubate pond eggs. For pretty much the same reasons you shouldn't eat pond eggs.

 

[JAPJRGIRL21]

Yes, they were going into an area and laying in there until the pond...they were not actually confined, they just went there every night. Now, they seem to not come out of the pond. Guess I need to build some type of enclosure for them to go into nightly and keep them in there. Thanks!!