Help! Mama duck was eaten, now trying to save 2 eggs

[lovinchicks]

Oh, and if I remember right I think the air cell was slanted on one side just a little, but mostly straight across. I'll have to re-candle them tonight. I'm thinking of leaving them with my broody chicken instead of putting them in the incubator. It looks like that has worked for some. I wish I could just put them under my mallard but I think hers are due to hatch out after the duck that I lost was due to hatch.

 

[lovinchicks]

I hope the neighbors don't have dogs. she is the example of "The Sitting Duck"

They do, but they don't let them run around usually. They know the duck is there because I asked her the other day if she was sitting on eggs there and she said yes. I had no idea where she was sitting on eggs at till she came home to eat one night and I waited to see where she went back to. It was dark by the time she got back on her nest so it was hard to see over there.

 

[Miss Lydia]

They do, but they don't let them run around usually. They know the duck is there because I asked her the other day if she was sitting on eggs there and she said yes. I had no idea where she was sitting on eggs at till she came home to eat one night and I waited to see where she went back to. It was dark by the time she got back on her nest so it was hard to see over there.

I wonder if neighbor would let you have the section of needles she is sitting on and if you moved her along with that section with her eggs if she'd keep on sitting. That doesn't look like a well thought out nest sight like Lacrystol was talking about , they are a fanatical about the nest as their eggs so maybe it would be worth a try.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Oh, and if I remember right I think the air cell was slanted on one side just a little, but mostly straight across. I'll have to re-candle them tonight. I'm thinking of leaving them with my broody chicken instead of putting them in the incubator. It looks like that has worked for some. I wish I could just put them under my mallard but I think hers are due to hatch out after the duck that I lost was due to hatch.

Broody chicken is better than a bator for sure.

 

[Carcajou]

I can't get my ducks to come off the pond at night. I would lock them up if I could get to them or if they would follow me. When you get within 4 feet of them they run/fly for the water. The whole 1/2 pond is fenced in, but obviously predators can climb over. If you have any advice for getting them to follow me into the barn, I'll take it.

I had to change my feeding routine to get ducks off the pond. First, I built a fence around their coop. Then I started feeding in the AM about what they would eat until noon-1 PM and removing the feeder at that time. They are usually hungry enough to go back in between 3 and 4 PM. I then lock the gate behind them. I did fence part of the pond so they have water inside the fence which they are quite content with. When it gets dark, in they go, sometimes on their own.

How far is your barn from your pond?

 

[lovinchicks]

You can see my barn roof and pond kinda in my avatar. They are not very far away from each other. The barn is probably 15 feet away. I've tried getting them to go into the barn or lean to area that's fenced in but they get to the door and they are like, there is now way we are going in there!! I've tried feeding them peas as treats to get them to warm up to me but they still don't like me, lol. My pond is fenced in because I also have 2 goats and that is their pasture area. I usually feed the ducks in the a.m. The ducks have to eat what they can before the goats get let out and finish it up, then they get feed in the p.m. when the suns going down. The ducks are usually fine. It's just when they want to sit on eggs that predators become a problem.

 

[Carcajou]

You can see my barn roof and pond kinda in my avatar. They are not very far away from each other. The barn is probably 15 feet away. I've tried getting them to go into the barn or lean to area that's fenced in but they get to the door and they are like, there is now way we are going in there!! I've tried feeding them peas as treats to get them to warm up to me but they still don't like me, lol. My pond is fenced in because I also have 2 goats and that is their pasture area. I usually feed the ducks in the a.m. The ducks have to eat what they can before the goats get let out and finish it up, then they get feed in the p.m. when the suns going down. The ducks are usually fine. It's just when they want to sit on eggs that predators become a problem.

Ducks are very vulnerable to preds, including owls at night. They are never really safe unless locked inside. Have they ever been in the barn?

 

[Lacrystol]

Me personally I would leave her, she can borrow down and camouflage right into that pile of straw, no one would see her. Plus she is close to a House, preditors don't usually go close to a house unless you leave food out and with them having dogs, just another reason for nothing to come around to bother her.

 

[lovinchicks]

Ducks are very vulnerable to preds, including owls at night. They are never really safe unless locked inside. Have they ever been in the barn?

They have only been in the barn in the winter when the temps got super cold and we used a rope line to scare them off the ice. I've never been able to get them in, in the summer time.

Me personally I would leave her, she can borrow down and camouflage right into that pile of straw, no one would see her. Plus she is close to a House, preditors don't usually go close to a house unless you leave food out and with them having dogs, just another reason for nothing to come around to bother her.

That's what I'm hoping if we leave her there, that she'll just camouflage right into it. Where she is at really isn't that far from where the other one got attacked. She's in front of their barn, and right next to that is their pond (more like a puddle, it's that small), and then our fence, and that's where she had made her nest. We have a dog too and that didn't stop anything unfortunately.

 

[lovinchicks]

UPDATE: Well under my broody hen was not the best place. She ended up cracking the side of the egg that had a duckling in it for sure and she left the nest for probably half the day to sit on different eggs so all the eggs she had been sitting on were cold. So I brought the broke egg to the house because I could see no movement in it and I took off one of the pieces of the shell where it was smashed and saw that it is still alive. So now the poor thing is in my incubator with a cracked shell with a damp paper towel over the small hole (which just dries out). If this duckling lives through all this it is going to be a miracle duck! Do ducks in egg generally take up the whole eggs like chickens do? When you candle it you can see the normal air pocket and then there is a space down the whole side of the egg on the side that got cracked. The air space goes down about a quarter of the way if your looking at the egg on it's side, but I think the duckling takes up more space than that because he seems to be up against the hole where it's cracked. The trick will be to know when it's ready to come out because it may need help at this point because I'm not sure it will be able to maneuver in the shell. The membranes still seem to be full of veins so it's not ready yet. It survived over night at least so we'll see.