help!my mallard stop sitting on eggs at 23 days

[mommaD83]

My mallard sat on her fertile eggs for 23 days then 2 days ago stayed out in the yard ALL day.. She has never done that since she started nesting on them.. The most time she left was maybe a half hour.. I candled them when I realized she wasn't sitting on them and there was one egg that must have went bad a week or so ago but the other 7 looked liked they were in their final stages of developnent.. I locked her in with her man and nest yesterday but the eggs are still cold.. I could tell she turned them but why isn't she sitting on them? The outside temp here for the past few days has been 40-50°.. My question is are these eggs going to survive? Why would she do this days before hatching? Thanks in advance..

 

[nchls school]

My mallard sat on her fertile eggs for 23 days then 2 days ago stayed out in the yard ALL day.. She has never done that since she started nesting on them.. The most time she left was maybe a half hour.. I candled them when I realized she wasn't sitting on them and there was one egg that must have went bad a week or so ago but the other 7 looked liked they were in their final stages of developnent.. I locked her in with her man and nest yesterday but the eggs are still cold.. I could tell she turned them but why isn't she sitting on them? The outside temp here for the past few days has been 40-50°.. My question is are these eggs going to survive? Why would she do this days before hatching? Thanks in advance..

By this time the embryos in the eggs would have died. Sometimes/often there is no obvious reason why a hen abandons her nest-possible reason: disease, scared off by predators, change in environment, loud noise, inexperience. Some just are not mother material.

 

[mommaD83]

This is her first time. I was so excited!

 

[nchls school]

This is her first time. I was so excited!

Since it is her first time there is a good chance she will do better with her next clutch. Whenever I have something like this happens I tell myself, "Maybe next time…", and next time is often much better.