if you don't want to read the story, skip down: its kind of bittersweet. this morning, i woke up to find my drake had been killed by some kind of wild animal (no way it could have been a cat). but we were wondering why we couldn't hear my duck quacking (she's usually really loud when something is wrong). so throughout the day, i've been giving her extra special attention since her mate was killed last night i went out there about an hour ago and she was nowhere to be found. looking all over the neighborhood, nothing. i went in the backyard again and started checking bushes. i found her sitting in a nest she had made! she got up and underneath her was fourteen eggs! i'd like her to be able to hatch these eggs, because i really think she deserves the family, especially right now. so my question is, with it being so cold at night, should i be worried that these eggs won't hatch? she seems to be sitting on them quite well. it looks like when he was alive he was probably even sitting on them too. how can i assure that they hatch? we made a coop for her, but obviously she took a better liking to the bush. please any sort of input helps. thank you.
This happens too often. I am sad for your loss. She is a sitting duck unless you either build a predator-proof structure around her, or move the nest, eggs, and her to a safe shelter. If you really want the ducklings, and are concerned that moving the nest will break her of broodiness, then get ahold of an incubator. Predators return.
Oh yes, predators return. If you leave your duck unprotected from predators, she will be taken and so will her eggs. Then you'll have none...If she were mine, shed be locked up inside a safe nighttime house/pen. When you move her nest, she might get persnickety and decide not to sit anymore. That's where I would employ the incubator if the hatch was really important to me. Or maybe if all the stars and the planets align just so, you'll get her nest moved and she will still sit, and in that case, you need not the incubator. Please get your duck and her eggs secured ASAP.