egg found in the yard, incubated and hatched

[howardtheduck585]

greetings. i found an egg carefully hidden under some leaves right out in the middle of my yard on April2. i successfully incubated and hatched the little guy. i assumed it to be a wild mallard...however the duck is almost 10 weeks old...and is huge! he looks more and more to be a domestic, rather than wild duck. the incubator i used to hatch i borrowed from my neighbor across the street. they do infact keep a few domesticated ducks in their back yard. his ducks never get out as they are penned in pretty good, and of coarse they cant fly out...but i cant help but think that somehow an egg from his ducks found its way into my yard...seems so unlikely, but my duck is so big...and im thinking hes too big now to even fly.

has anyone ever had the same experience? what are the odds of finding an abandoned single domesticated breed of duck egg in your yard?

please take a look at my pictures and help identify the dude. if hes not flying away, i for sure need to be prepared for a long term relationship. i was hoping all the time he would fly away and live his best duck life out in the wild with the rest of his buddies (also not sure of the sex. it does have some green coming thru on head)

 

[HappyClucker7]

That's definitely a domestic duck. He can't live in the wild.

 

[sourland]

That's a mallard derived crossbred not a mallard. He won't be flying anywhere.

 

[ProudRedneck]

There are wild birds that steal duck and chicken eggs so perhaps it was dropped in your yard. I'm assuming you have checked with your neighbor to see if they noticed missing eggs happening and checked to see if your duck has characteristics/markings similar to your neighbors ducks. Seems highly likely that is where the egg came from.

Editing to add: Your duck is beautiful by the way

 

[Magnolia Ducks]

Domestic duck very cute. Can you voice sex it?

 

[Mother-Hen-Michele]

I thought of a stolen egg left by a predator, but there was a nest made... Could a wild duck have mated with a domestic duck and then started a clutch. Maybe you found the first egg and more would have followed if untouched.

This is very baby Moses left in the reeds to be raised by the Pharoah's daughter... Congratulations... This is a big miracle.

(Based on beak color, I am guessing drake)