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One Response to “My duck laid 3 eggs, 1 in a nest, and 2 in the yard. Is the one in the nest fertile? How about the others?”

1. Stuart D on May 30th, 2008 at 4:59 am

   If your duck has a drake living with her then they might be fertile. But obviously if she is on her own then they are just going to be unfertilised eggs and good to eat.
   Were the eggs in the yard laid in the cold? If not it might just be that she has laid them away from the nest and they may still be fertile. The only way to know for definate is to either leave her to incubate them herself, which they generally do once they have laid a good size clutch, usually 8-20 eggs. If you want to do it this way then put them back in the nest.
   Or you can set up an incubator and turn the eggs once or twice daily until there due hatching date, that would mean setting up a brooder though and you would be mum.
   The best alternative if you want her to carry on producing eggs and not to incubate them herself is to take them away as she lays them, leaving a pot egg in the nest so she feels she is adding to her brood and purchase or borrow a broody hen from a local breeder and that can incubate the eggs for you, if you find a Silkie or Silkie cross Hen these usually make better mothers than the ducks do!

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