Will cold weather affect fertility of eggs? HELP

[finchamdan]

Hi there,
Im hoping there are some experienced people here to help me answer my question .
I have my silver mandarin ducks laying eggs now and i leave the eggs in the nest box overnight. I am wondering with all the cold weather over here in the UK would affect the fertility of the eggs if left?
I got my first egg 26.3.13 and i now have 4, i dont want the eggs to have a lower fertility rate so i wondered what to do?
Hope you can help

 

[cmfarm]

How cold is it over there?

 

[finchamdan]

hi!
it has been around -2 to 0 for the past 2 weeks now.

 

[cmfarm]

Since that is freezing it will can kill the embryos. I would try and take them out before dark.

 

[finchamdan]

But the embro has not started developing because she hasnt sat on the eggs yet, shes still laying eggs every other day