I have 3 ducks on nests. I was inside the duck house a while ago checking on things and spotted some eggs that my other girls had hidden under the hay..no nest built though. I picked those eggs up and decided to carry them to the trash because they've been in that house at least close to a month since my non setting girls are using the other house. There were 7 eggs, two fell out of my hand as I was walking to the house, one lost a huge chunk of shell and I could see a baby moving below the membrane...the other egg hit a dang rock and splattered, to my horror there was a beautiful black and white baby in there..the yolk broke but was huge, lots of blood all over the place and the baby started moving. I picked it up with all the mess and it passed in my hands by the time I got to the back door :-( I've got the other one in the incubator, covered with a warm wet papertowel and crossing my toes and fingers. I didn't want to put it in one of the nests with my broody girls since there is such a large chunk of shell missing. The membrane is dry as bone as well. I was so stunned that these eggs had incubated...I should have waited until tonight and candled them before removing. Shows that if you've got a warm enough spot the eggs will incubate without Mamma duck on them. Michelle
Oh no! I will say this You now know that that little duckling is alive in heaven watching his sibling.
Dont beat yourself up, I have done that before and I felt so bad for the creature inside of it. Lets hope the one egg in the incubator hatches!
Good luck with the duckling hatching,how long do you think they are out there? Did you candle the other 5 eggs to see if they are growing? I have hatched 27 call ducklings over the last 5 weeks ,the first ones I hatched were under a b.o. and I had to take them off her as they hatched because she stood on 4 and I had no incubator so i put them under a heat lamp with damp tissue over them and they hatched so for your little duckling
It wasnt like you knew they were developing and tossed them anyway.. We can all look back in hindsight and think we should have done something different- It must have been a shock for you- but just try and turn it to a positive by thinking about the chance you are giving to the little one who may not have hatched if you didnt put it in the bator,
So Sorry Michelle... But as the other posts say, it wasn't your fault. I hope the other egg will hatch for you. That is amazing that the eggs would be developing that far along without a broodie duck. ~Julie~
Thanks for the kind words everyone. I feel just awful about it. I put the other eggs back in the duck house and will candle them tonight. I was just stunned that those eggs had developed so well. My 2 broodies that are in the house are at the other end of the house with their nests. These eggs weren't even bunched together, just laying randomly under a good layer of hay. Of course the hay had been pooped on and there was some on the eggs..the eggs looked awful. The 2 broodies in the house got very aggressive with my other ducks after they'd been on their nest for about a week so the non broody gals and guy took up residence in the old duck house and have been sleeping in it ever since. My third broody hen (Mallard) built her nest under my clematis vine/trellis when the winds knocked it over so we left her there with her nest. She comes out twice a day and gets food, drink and a quick swim then scoots back under there. The 2 broodies in my duck house are my 2 yr old Pekin and 1 yr old Magpie/runner cross. My Pekin has barely come off the nest compared to the Magpie and the Mallard. She should be hatching out any day now. Michelle
You could just as easily have put them in the trash and been none the wiser. But as Duckyfromoz says, now one of them has a chance, which is wonderful. So it was kind of a good accident.... Fingers are crossed for the little one in the 'bator.