Wild Duck Egg Advice

[CorvusTristis18]

Hello,

Hoping someone experienced with ducks can help, there are wild mallards laying eggs around my workplace. We are beside the water and the female duck has been leaving eggs in the gravel beside the road and now in my planters. I had though that she would lay every day, and then gather the eggs to incubate simultaneously. However, my planter is a box over two feet high. I don't imagine that she could recover that egg? If I found her nest I could place it there, but it is a large site and I think my chances of discovering her intended nest is slim.

How do your ducks move their eggs to gather them in one place, and how can I make sure that she can safely gather all of her eggs when she is ready?

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

I would just let nature take its course.

 

[sylviethecochin]

When ducks go broody, they begin laying their eggs all in one place. Until then, it's random dropping. They can and will lay eggs in the water.

 

[chickens really]

She isn't setting But Ducks lay eggs daily so just toss those. If she was nesting they would be laid in a nest as a clutch..

 

[CorvusTristis18]

Ah, that makes perfect sense, thanks. I'm curious, would these random drops still be viable if she did incubate them, or probably not fertilised? They're waking around in pairs and apparently trampling on the contents of every planter I've collected the egg from the road to avoid any mess, and put this with the one half-buried in my planter to keep cool just in case.

I'll look out for her eventual nest and put up poles to mark it to protect from the tourists and traffic!

 

[casportpony]

Welcome to BYC!

 

[chickens really]

Might be her first season and won't set eggs till next year but the young Drake follows her around..

 

[CorvusTristis18]

So she's put another egg into the planter! I had added the egg I found by the road to the egg she had laid there. This morning I found three I'm hopeful that she will now sit there when she's ready and keep adding to that area.

 

[chickens really]

So she's put another egg into the planter! I had added the egg I found by the road to the egg she had laid there. This morning I found three I'm hopeful that she will now sit there when she's ready and keep adding to that area.

Hopefully it's a safe place from traffic and predators or just keep tossing out the eggs or block off the planter so she leaves to set in a proper nest site..

 

[Lazy Farmer]

I wouldn't intervene. Migratory birds are federally protected and hatching them might be a no no.
Recently here in Florida, on the news, a restaurant owner is facing charges for moving duck eggs away from his restaurant. One of his employees dropped a dime on him. He is facing charges right now.
Call a wildlife rescue if you want to help. I wouldn't touch them with a ten foot pole after seeing the news the other night. I don't want reporters turning me into dirty laundry.