Sad day

[fiveladybugs]

My daughter was so excited that one of her mallards has been sitting on five eggs, not too far from hatching. We got home today & she found a black snack in the nest, having eaten four of the eggs. Now the momma duck refuses to sit on the last egg. My daughter is heartbroken.

 

[Diamond88]

I'm sorry to hear about that. If the mother duck won't sit on the last egg, you could always try to incubate it. Maybe you'll still get one duckling.

 

[tinydancer87]

Not to be gross, but I probably would have killed the snake, and cut it open to get the eggs out. Gave them a wash and put them back under the hen. I think I read somewhere on this forum actually where someone did that....and the egg hatched.

 

[Miss Lydia]

My daughter was so excited that one of her mallards has been sitting on five eggs, not too far from hatching. We got home today & she found a black snack in the nest, having eaten four of the eggs. Now the momma duck refuses to sit on the last egg. My daughter is heartbroken.

And mama duck is traumatized I'd say if you have a bator put the egg in and hopefully you'll still get at least 1 duckling. So sorry the blk snakes are around here alot this year.

 

[Mum]

Not to be gross, but I probably would have killed the snake, and cut it open to get the eggs out. Gave them a wash and put them back under the hen. I think I read somewhere on this forum actually where someone did that....and the egg hatched.

We don't have snakes where I live, but .... how ingenious!!!

I agree with Diamond88 and Miss Lydia; incubate the final egg.

So sad for your daughter, but, unfortunately, it is as much a life lesson as the raising of ducks and I hope you can find a way to gently explain that to her and for her to understand and accept it. Then, when she does get her ducklings, her appreciation of them will be tenfold. Give her a

from me.

 

[fiveladybugs]

Not to be gross, but I probably would have killed the snake, and cut it open to get the eggs out. Gave them a wash and put them back under the hen. I think I read somewhere on this forum actually where someone did that....and the egg hatched.

That's exactly what I told hubby to do...I think he thought I was kidding. Sadly, we don't have an incubator, but now that I thnk of it, I think my dad still has one. I'm definitely gonna find out so we can have one on hand in case this ever happens again.

 

[Going Quackers]

That's is too bad, how sad.. i have no idea what a 'black snake' is though? (er..obviously i know it's a snake i mean the type lol)

 

[Miss Lydia]

That's is too bad, how sad.. i have no idea what a 'black snake' is though? (er..obviously i know it's a snake i mean the type lol)

They are suppose to eat rats, mice and they will also kill poisionous snakes like copper heads that we have alot of. They are called Blk Rat Snakes and some around here get to 6' long and pretty big around. They do like eggs if given the chance and will also eat baby chicks and ducklings, I have had to take quite a few down the road this year. http://www.marshall.edu/herp/snakes/black_ratsnake.htm

 

[Going Quackers]

They are suppose to eat rats, mice and they will also kill poisionous snakes like copper heads that we have alot of. They are called Blk Rat Snakes and some around here get to 6' long and pretty big around. They do like eggs if given the chance and will also eat baby chicks and ducklings, I have had to take quite a few down the road this year. http://www.marshall.edu/herp/snakes/black_ratsnake.htm

Yikes, sounds like a very unpleasant one to have around.

 

[CSisley]

Not to be gross, but I probably would have killed the snake, and cut it open to get the eggs out. Gave them a wash and put them back under the hen. I think I read somewhere on this forum actually where someone did that....and the egg hatched.

I did something similar once. I was probably about 10 years old at the time but I've never been afraid of critter crawlers. I was watching and waiting for mallard ducklings from some eggs that one of our mallard ducks was sitting on. I noticed that eggs kept disappearing until one day I caught the snake in the act. I didn't kill it, but I did slowly squeeze the eggs out of the snake's mouth and put them back in the nest. I tried to relocate the snake but little did I know at the time that snakes can travel for miles back to their home in a short period of time. Unfortunately the eggs kept disappearing until they were all gone and now I wish I had just killed that darn snake.

Oh and in regards to the egg that's left you could try putting a 75 watt lightbulb about foot above it with a damp rag nearby. This may be all it needs if it's not far from hatching. I know it's not anything close to an incubator but at this point you've got nothing to loose. My dad did this once with an egg that hadn't even pipped that got left by mother hen and it hatched just fine. He didn't even use a damp rag to help with the humidity.