Elderly cat breathing difficulties when purring

[atmospheric]

Hi, just a couple of questions really. A pair of wild ducks (male and female) have taken to my Koi pond, returning every day for the last two weeks.

 

To our amazement, over a period of two days, two eggs appeared on the lawn.

 

Neither duck is showing any inclination to incubate the eggs, in fact they are effectively abandoned.

 

My questions are:

 

1. Is this normal behaviour?

 

2. Are these eggs likely to be fertilised?

 

3. If they are fertilised, would it be worth our while following the excellent advice on this site and trying to incubate them ourselves? This would be great for the kids.

 

4. If they're not likely to be, and it would be of no detriment to the ducks, would it be in order for us to dispose of the existing two eggs and remove any future eggs for the pan?

 

Many thanks in advance for your help.

 

PS...if they are fertilised, would they be edible?

[Lesley]

1. Is this normal behaviour?

 

2. Are these eggs likely to be fertilised?

 

3. If they are fertilised, would it be worth our while following the excellent advice on this site and trying to incubate them ourselves? This would be great for the kids.

 

4. If they're not likely to be, and it would be of no detriment to the ducks, would it be in order for us to dispose of the existing two eggs and remove any future eggs for the pan?

 

Many thanks in advance for your help.

 

PS...if they are fertilised, would they be edible?

 

Hello - welcome to the forum.......

 

The eggs are likely to be fertile and it could be worthwhile trying to incubate them although you would have to raise them to grown ducks yourself. Do make sure that the eggs have been abandoned - the duck could be collecting a clutch of eggs before sitting on them, although that is unlikely as they were in the middle of the lawn.

 

....... and fertilised eggs are OK to eat!

[Lewis]

I would incubate them and not eat them if you want to take in the responsibility of ducklings.

You never know if the duck has any nasties or anything, so be careful eating it

[atmospheric]

Many thanks for your comments. Unfortunately both eggs have been destroyed overnight, I'm guessing by a Magpie that's been lurking around.

 

The two wild ducks are still coming back though so hopefully we'll see some more soon. No doubt I'll be back with more questions.

 

Thanks again,

 

Alistair

[Lewis]

Just caught up.

 

Hope the adult ducks come back and lay a couple more eggs.

[atmospheric]

For a few days we were local celebrities with several mums bringing their kids around to look at "our" ducks and eggs.

 

They're here every day now for their marmite on toast (a tip I found on this site I believe), but they've also taken to stealing the Koi pellets from the pond!

 

If any more eggs are laid, I'll let the Board know. Thanks for your interest!

[Guest]

oh you might be lucky and they may nest somewhere in your garden in the bushes or undergrowth. The male mallard will stay with the female until she starts sitting on the nest. So if you see her come down on her own she is probably on some eggs somewhere. If you do find the nest without her on it they do leave it to go and feed. So she wont have abandoned those eggs in a nest. Its roughly 32 days to hatch.

 

Sometimes dopey ducks do just leave an egg ie in a field etc so no surprises , they on the whole are really rubbish parents.

 

If only the male duck would stay to help out once the ducklings arrive but they are usually off the scene then(just when she could do with some help too)!

 

But mallards do camoflague their nests really well and hide the eggs in a really nice duck down.

 

We have just got some mallard ducklings and they seem really late this year.

 

Good luck

indie