First duck egg!!

[tomynoks]

Ok it's not the ducks first egg, but it's the first one she's laid for me!! I got her and five 2 week old ducklings back in July and she is now laying eggs again! I have a year old drake that has been mating her. She was not sitting on the egg when I found it today. I'm fairly certain its fertile, but I'm not sure whether to eat it or leave it and see if she will go broody!! Any help is greatly appreciated!! I know there are other posts similar, but couldn't find anything on if she should be sitting on just one egg or if she'll wait until there's more to collect and find a nesting spot. Also not sure this time of year is ideal to be hatching eggs. I live in WA state and the temps are currently in the 70s daytime and 50s at night.

 

[emmachickgirl]

Hi I'm Emma and I have ducks of my own and ducks are kinda like chickens if they want to go broody they will find a spot themselves and lay the egg and just sit there know in your case you can take the egg and eat it or if you have an incubator then you could put it in there

 

[tomynoks]

When they go broody, will they lay on the first egg? This one was just sitting on the ground in their pen, out in the middle like she dropped it on the run...lol

 

[Orca5094]

Ducks will lay a full clutch of eggs before sitting on them. If you want her to go broody and maybe raise another batch of ducklings this year, then I would leave the egg alone. She should either continue laying in that spot, or she will find a better spot and build an actual nest and start laying in there. She maybe wasn't prepared for this egg yet.

If you're concerned it'll be too cold to raise ducklings at this time, maybe you should just collect and eat her eggs for now and wait until Spring to let her incubate?

 

[tomynoks]

She's laid 3 eggs in 3 days. The first one went into the fridge. The other 2 are in a nest I built She is not laying on them. Will she wait until there are more, or this an indication that she's not going broody? I'm not sure if it's my mama duck or my oldest baby who is laying. I'll have to separate them to see.

 

[tomynoks]

 

[Orca5094]

Ducks will not sit on their eggs until they have laid a full clutch. They just lay them and leave them until they feel they have a full clutch, then they will sit if they decide to go broody. If they don't decide to go broody, they'll just continue to lay eggs and never sit on them. So, you'll just have to wait and see what she decides to do.

 

[tomynoks]

Ok thanks. My next question is: how many days can they sit outside and still eaten if she doesn't sit on them? The temps have been 70s high and 40s low lately.