Muscovy ducks leaving eggs 1 day at a time.

[newbie ducks]

I have several Muscovy ducks hanging out front of my house and I'm in upper florida & its middle of January been cold outside temps in the 50 & 40 & 30 at night & in a few days it will be supper cold around 28 or colder.
so, 1 made a nest in my mulch in corner of my house & by my front door.
she drop 1 egg on day one and left it for about 1 1/2 hours, so I picked it up, cleaned it off, made a rigged-up incubator, been turning it a few times a day. I been checking all day to see if she comes back for it.
well looks like she didn't return until the next morning on day 2 went outside I had seen she left me another egg, but this one was cracked, smelled. i got rid of it. and I left her some water & peas & oats by her nest.
well today is day 3 I got to see her again & the rest of the family came back they all seemed to be talking to her & each other.
And I talked to her told her she need to be a good mama take care of her babies and that I was helping her by taking care of her 1st egg. told her I was sorry your 2nd egg didn't make it.
she let me put her 1st egg back in her nest the one i was taking care of for her, hoping she get the idea she needs to stay a while keep it warm.
she did seem to be happy to see it & didn't mind me helping her & talking to her as I kept my distance.
she did go over to the nest after I put it in there & she sat on it & she did drop another egg it be her 3rd egg.
she sat on it for about 1/2 hour & they all took off again.
she seems to be laying one at a time each day around 7-8 am & not returning to the nest until the next morning around the same time.
do i pick up the eggs in the morning after she sat on them for 1/2 hour & put them in the incubator for the rest of the day & give them back to her the next morning? should I give her a big box with the front cut out so she has a safe room & help protect the nest from the cold & to give her some privacy? or do i just put the eggs back in the nest & leave it out in the cold all day & night? I have no clue what to do or how to take care of the eggs. we have stray cats around here & I have my own 2 cats & 2 dogs that are inside animals.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Ducks only lay one egg a day, even when building a clutch to brood, which absolutelyis not a guarantee for any bird. Taking the eggs away is only reinforcing that predators are around and eating the eggs.

Rarely are birds going to just go broody on an empty nest. Either collect the eggs and try to hatch yourself (which means you'll have to raise them yourself because you cannot just put them with a random hen, even if she's the one that laid the eggs) or let her build a clutch and see if she decides to brood.

 

[newbie ducks]

okay. I put the eggs back and put just a little bit of mulch on them the way she had it. help keep them warm. i go get some kind of bird seed for her. seems like she didn't like pea's & oats.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Has the egg already been incubated? Don't leave food by the nest. You'll just attract other animals

 

[newbie ducks]

1 egg i did try to incubate it for 2 days had it in a box with towels & used 2 of those wax candle burners on each side of the smaller box with big plastic box that has holes on top of it to cover them up to keep it warm under the box & turned the egg 3 times a day & then left the top box off it so it can get fresh air and at night I would wrap up the egg while it was under the box to keep it warmmer at night kinda like as if the mother was sitting on it.
the newer egg she just laid it this morning. I gave her back the 1st egg that i started working on just before she started to lay the new egg and she sat on it while she was laying the new egg & did not remove the egg she sat on both eggs for about 1/2 hour & then left.

 

[newbie ducks]

the egg i was working on did the flashlight test don't see any red lines, stuck to the bottom of the egg. looked pretty good so far.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

You wouldn't see any growth for that short of time. Usually they need to be properly incubated for a week before ypu can candle and see anything

 

[JacinLarkwell]

@Miss Lydia

 

[newbie ducks]

i just now put them both back in the nest, covered them with a little bit of mulch the way she had it & I just let her do her thing. my daughter said i should just leave them alone. she knows best.

 

[newbie ducks]

ok