Ducks & Eggs

[robar]

we've been adopted by a pair of ducks.. they seem to be pond ducks and the female laid 3 eggs today.. my ??? is do they make a nest?? we have 3 eggs in a flower garden but no nest.. is this natural?? she's already lost one set of eggs to predators..

roy

[mtngal]

Interesting. When I was living in Copperas Cove (think you might know where that is), two neighbors got baby ducks for Easter (they looked like a mix of domestic white ducks and mallards). My house had ivy on one side of it and one female kept laying her eggs in a space between the ivy and the wall - she didn't build any type of nest, just layed the eggs on the ground/ivy. It was amazing how many of the eggs hatched and how many of the babies grew up. What started out as 5 or 6 ducks quickly grew into 30 or more.

[robar]

wow, if they get that many i'll just start eating ducks. i've got some shots of them that i'll post later.. i had said ''no more birds'', but that'll probably not be true.. she had laid some before in some monkey grass but something got to them. i saw her sitting on the eggs earlier and found out that shee was laying another one. 4 total so far. she does not tend these like other birds do. do duck eggs need mom are is the ambient heat enough..??

roy

[ennacac]

The ducks around here do make nests in grass or under bushes, but they don't put the time into them that regular birds do. They also spend quite a bit if time on the nest when it is cold out, but not so much when it is extremely warm.

Tom

[robar]

upto 5 eggs now.. anyone know a total?? she does tend them. just not much.. thanks tom, we're in the bad part of texas weather. hot,humid, just down right brutal. maybe she's just using our heat to do the work.. hope we have ducklings.. it's been about 8 years since we had them.

H, Copperas Cove, sure do. it's right down the road from West,Texas.. home of willie nelson..

roy

[bigdawg]

She'll turn them every now and then and sit on them infrequently but that is about it. I hope you like duck butter...Your yard will get covered if they keep multiplying! LOL The seem to have a penchant for covering concrete with it!!

Dawg

[mtngal]

Copperas Cove doesn't have much as far as publicity, it's mostly a bedroom community for Ft. Hood (though originally it was a farm town). It was a pleasant place to live, especially since we were slightly outside of town. Not sure I'd recognize it any more, though.

I think the duck that adopted our ivy had between 8-10 or so each time. We had dogs and it drove them nuts when she would take her babies close to the fence, as though to explain to them that the dogs were dangerous and not to venture onto the other side of the fence. It was fun to watch the first batch grow up, until we saw what a mess our front walkway became. Then we kept trying to discourage her from laying the eggs there, eventually removing the ivy.

[robar]

how long from laying to hatching??

H, the austin area is beautiful. i've always loved the hill country of texas..

[ennacac]

The good news is you have Ducks not Geese! Geese can really make a mess out of your lawn and everything else.

They march across your lawn and grass goes in one end and out the other, it is an amazing mess.

From what i undersatnd it takes 28 days to hatch a Duck egg.

Tom

[robar]

ennacac wrote:

The good news is you have Ducks not Geese! Geese can really make a mess out of your lawn and everything else.

They march across your lawn and grass goes in one end and out the other, it is an amazing mess.

From what i undersatnd it takes 28 days to hatch a Duck egg.

Tom

that's what i've read. we were up to 8 eggs yesterday and now down to 7.. the 7th is about 30' away and cracked..