Help! I've rescued 12 abandoned duck eggs...

[Kroelies]

The group picture is a ball of fluff it's too cute omg

 

[Miss Lydia]

Congratulations on a great hatch.

 

[ChickenQuail007]

I think they are mallard ducklings and congratulations on a 100% hatch

 

[Tosea]

Thank you for this thread! It gives me hope! Last night I took in 10 wild duck eggs that are due to hatch in about 5 days (duck nest in our front yard--we've been monitoring daily). The mother was gone for over 24 hours and I stayed up until 4 am last night to be certain. I then took in 6 eggs and left 4 in case she returned, but no luck. So this morning I took in the remaining 4. This afternoon I candled and saw life in 4 of the eggs. The other 6 still show red veins, so I'll check for life again tomorrow (trying not to handle them too much). I've been doing hours of research on all of this! It went down to around 50 Fahrenheit last night (when the eggs were still outside), so I was pretty excited when I saw some life today! I have them in a plant seedling tray with a seedling warmer underneath (buffered by towels). I'm also monitoring temperature and humidity according to research I've done. I plan to keep out of their sight, and hand them over to a wildlife center as soon as (if) they hatch. Any advice is welcome, as I am absolutely new to this! (Should I be starting a new thread?)

 

[Kroelies]

I didn't see a new thread but how did it go?

 

[norvell84]

The basics are as follows:
Constant 99.5 degrees for eggs,
Water is necessary when they are actually hatching to keep them moist so they won't get stuck in the shell, and so they don't dehydrate when crawling around in the constant heat.
Ducks have a unique immune system when it comes to dirty water which is why they can drink pond water. So clean water is nto necessary, but not hurtful either.
As for the smell, most of it would be from the spoiling food they make a mess with. to keep it mold proof change the bedding every 3 days.
When they get too big for brooding box or whatever you are using you need an outside brooder with enough space for them to move around and plenty of air to keep the smell down. I live in the country so all I do is pull the poop tray out when near full and slowly walk with it out in a filed and dump it, maybe even sometimes throw it on my garden.

 

[Tosea]

Update! Of the 10 eggs that I rescued, 6 were viable. They all hatched and were healthy. They were delivered to a wild bird rehab center last week. Whew! That was a lot of work and stress!

 

[Kroelies]

That's awesome!

 

[Tosea]

Picture as of when I dropped them off at the wild bird rehab. (I had to do it before they all hatched, because it was 2 hours away (in Ottawa), and I was taking my brother to an appointment there that day. I phoned them a couple days later and they told me that they all survived. The 3rd one was half way out when we got there. (The pieces of egg carton were to keep them from rolling/moving around on the trip!) We were sweltering on the trip, because I had to keep the heat on in the car! lol Thank you, eveyrbody, for the help from this thread and others!




First one hatched:

 

[Kroelies]

SQUEEE THEY ARE SO CUTE