Found an egg on my dock

[can't get enough chicken]

Hello!

I live on the water and we have mostly mallard and egrets here. I was going for a kayak yesterday and found a turquoise egg on the corner of my dock! I looked all around for a nest in my backyard but had no luck finding one. I have taken the egg and put it in an incubator that I borrowed from my neighbour. I have it around 37.7 degrees C and 65% humidity but I have no idea what I am doing!

I candled it and it looks like there is a dark disk that moves around when I move the egg. It also had a little bubble of air on top of that dark disk.

Any ideas or suggestions? Am I incubating a dead egg? What kind of bird laid the egg and how would it end up on my dock?

 

[nchls school]

If possible post a picture of the egg. And one of it being candled.

 

[em_dawson]

Hello!

I live on the water and we have mostly mallard and egrets here. I was going for a kayak yesterday and found a turquoise egg on the corner of my dock! I looked all around for a nest in my backyard but had no luck finding one. I have taken the egg and put it in an incubator that I borrowed from my neighbour. I have it around 37.7 degrees C and 65% humidity but I have no idea what I am doing!

I candled it and it looks like there is a dark disk that moves around when I move the egg. It also had a little bubble of air on top of that dark disk.

Any ideas or suggestions? Am I incubating a dead egg? What kind of bird laid the egg and how would it end up on my dock?

Egret eggs are turquoise! It’s possible some creature took it from the nest and was going to eat it but dropped it or something. Other times the mother will cast it out of its nest if she knows it is infertile or unlikely to hatch.

 

[em_dawson]

Egret eggs are turquoise! It’s possible some creature took it from the nest and was going to eat it but dropped it or something.

They take around 25-29 days to hatch. I’m not sure what your local wildlife laws are, though.

 

[can't get enough chicken]

The egg!

 

[em_dawson]

The egg!

That’s definitely an egret or heron egg

 

[em_dawson]

That is a heron egg. ^

These are egret eggs^

 

[nchls school]

With a picture of the egg being candled we should be able to tell if it's alive.

Look around and up, the nest should be nearby in a tree/tall bush-possibly in a cattail bed (for some types of herons).

 

[DogAndCat36]

The egg!

(Sorry, I was shadowing this thread.) It would be interesting to see if it will hatch.

 

[can't get enough chicken]

With a picture of the egg being candled we should be able to tell if it's alive.

Look around and up, the nest should be nearby in a tree/tall bush-possibly in a cattail bed (for some types of herons).

Is it bad to take it out of the incubator and candle it too much? I would love to take a picture but I don't want to kill it!

There are no trees around my dock or cattails! It is just water!