Moving nest and leaving eggs behind

[rossifamily]

I asked about 4 weeks ago about the amount of eggs my mallard had laid. She was at 20! We discarded about 5, then she laid a few more. I decided to leave them alone and see what she did, She was on and off her nest during the day, we were having pretty warm weather and the coop where her nest is was warm, The last 2 weeks or so she is pretty much on constantly. This afternoon we peeked in and she had moved her nest about a foot, but she left 5 eggs behind. I assumed she thought they were bad, is this normal?(first time duck owner!

) I candled the eggs and saw no movement. We have never seen the inside once they had started developing so we cracked them open, one was just a yolk, one was a broken yolk, 2 had started to grow

but were still tiny, and the last was plain rotten. I knew it was going to be from the darkness when I candled it,lesson learned!!

My son ran so fast!!

Anyway, in case my question got lost in there: Is it normal for momma to move her next and discard bad eggs?


Thanks!!

 

[Amiga]

I think that's within the range of normal, from what I read. She is safe, right? Protected from predators?

 

[rockyhranch]

Mine would move her nest this last month about 6 inches a week o.o and each time she'd discard a couple of eggs.... she was a first time nester and is a super clumsy duck so i just thought that was her own personality.....lolll now i'm not so sure...

 

[rossifamily]

Yes she is safe. Thanks for asking.

 

[rossifamily]

This is mine's first time too! I was worried most of the eggs wouldn't make it They were there almost a month without her sitting on them. I was so excited to see she was actually sitting and some are growing!! Though I have no idea when they will hatch!!