Help...Something laid an egg in my mulch! UPDATE: It's a Duck!

[Pooh's Pixie]

Gotta see what it is, can't help but subscribe...

 

[solferino]

Like the snake or turtle eggs, the bird eggs need a heat source to make the develop, and the mama bird is the one who creates that heat (IE:turtles bury their eggs in the sand in a sunny location and the heat from that does the work) Chickens are 21 days incubation, ducks are 28. IME ducks will lay as many eggs as they can and then set on the nest, maybe 15 eggs +/-. Geese are less than that. 6-8 maybe? Not all eggs will hatch- some will completely develop but for some reason don't have the strength to bust out of the shell. I remember a few years ago hearing a peeping egg in our barn. I was so excited, there was life in there that I could HEAR! Sadly, something happened and the egg never hatched.

The OP can candle the egg to see if there's anything going on, but if it's newly laid you can't tell. After a few days a blood spot will appear and in a week you can see vascular activity (The coolest thing ever to see for the first time!)

The best way to do it is to use a bright flashlight and rest the egg on the lens of the light and gently putting your hand around the egg and lens to block out the light.


Here is a website with some pix

http://animalscience.ucdavis.edu/Avian/pfs32.htm

 

[horseshowmom]

I have no idea what an extension service is?

What it is - http://www.extension.psu.edu/

How to find your local office - http://www.extension.psu.edu/extmap.html

 

[laura001]

so.............we are waiting?????

 

[Amlee]

My guess is a goose. Becareful, nesting geese are very mean!

When my brother was 2 he walked right up to a goose on her nest. Raised her wing, grap an egg and took off running with it. Screaming Look Mama! You have never heard such noise in your LIFE!! That goose put out the call and birds came from EVERYWHERE! One of the park rangers heard it and came running. He got to my brother about the time my mother did. He layed the egg back down and Mama goose rolled it back to her nest.

 

[qtwns]

Hmm..It looks like the duck one, but more the size of the goose.
I guess maybe it could be a duck or goose. I've never seen any in my yard but there is a pond a couple streets down....maybe it migrated up the road???

Duck...Duck...Goose!

 

[Jeanny]

Duck...Duck...Goose!

wanna take a gander???? Maybe it's Mother Goose???


You took the duck, duck, goose right out of my mouth!!!!!

 

[qtwns]

Duck...Duck...Goose!

wanna take a gander???? Maybe it's Mother Goose???


You took the duck, duck, goose right out of my mouth!!!!!

I was going to say something about Mother Goose as well. Glad to see someone else is as cracked as I am (OOh--maybe I shouldn't say "cracked" in a thread about eggs.)

 

[Diane]

A friend of mine had a duck lay eggs in a planter in her yard this spring. Mama duck came back every day for about ten days and laid a new egg a day (or something like that). Then she came back on sat on the nest. I think it was 28/30 days later the eggs hatched. My friend had been so excited about seeing the ducklings and was all set to get pictures and escort mama duck and her babies to water. For some reason though, my friend missed the big event. She came home one day and all that was left were the empty egg shells.

 

[SamIAm21]

A friend of mine had a duck lay eggs in a planter in her yard this spring. Mama duck came back every day for about ten days and laid a new egg a day (or something like that). Then she came back on sat on the nest. I think it was 28/30 days later the eggs hatched. My friend had been so excited about seeing the ducklings and was all set to get pictures and escort mama duck and her babies to water. For some reason though, my friend missed the big event. She came home one day and all that was left were the empty egg shells.

Awww... all that waiting and excitement and then they didn't even say Goodbye...

Very sad!

 

[ZPT1022]

I hope for your sake its a duck or goose, and Mama comes back. Do you have a local museum that takes in wounded animals that might be interested in hatching the egg if she doesn't come back?

 

[DwarfMaster]

Well came out this morning to a find Mama Duck squatting in my mulch.
She waddled off & left us 2 more eggs!

 

[carone0318]

That is so exciting! I hope that you get to see some chicks (would be great if you could get a photo of some fuzzy ducklings!!!)

At least no baby snakes....

 

[Laz]

Well came out this morning to a find Mama Duck squatting in my mulch.
She waddled off & left us 2 more eggs!

Your biggest concern is predators. Keep an eye out for cats, dogs, raccoons (they love to eat the eggs), etc.

 

[Southern4sure]

Well came out this morning to a find Mama Duck squatting in my mulch.
She waddled off & left us 2 more eggs!

Awe, back to being cute again.

 

[laura001]

awww....that is so cute! Please share some pics with us!

 

[famofsix]

Now you know we expect you to come up with a disney name for the mother and the ducklings, right?

 

[DwarfMaster]

Your biggest concern is predators. Keep an eye out for cats, dogs, raccoons (they love to eat the eggs), etc.

Their biggest predator is my DD5 right now.....It'll be hard to keep her away.

I've got a pic of the eggs, I'll keep snapping pics & we can watch them grow

 

[DwarfMaster]

Now you know we expect you to come up with a disney name for the mother and the ducklings, right?

Do I need to be more creative than Daisy, Huey, Dewey, and Louie??

 

[minnieandme]

Their biggest predator is my DD5 right now.....It'll be hard to keep her away.

I've got a pic of the eggs, I'll keep snapping pics & we can watch them grow

Can you post them so we can see?