The Furry Forums
Furry Chat => Rants and Advice => Topic started by: Vee Katame: His Wolfy on June 14, 2011, 03:13:16 AM
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Okay, so, two of my ducks are laying on eggs right now. This issue only deals with the eggs of one of the ducks though since the other one isn't acting weird.
A couple weeks ago, there was egg slime in the driveway with blood in it and a few feet away was the egg. I decided to check out the egg because of the blood that was in the egg slime since usually the ducks eggs don't end up being fertile so they sit on them for nothing. When I moved the egg shell, there was a duck embryo lying there curled up, the size of it only being about an inch in diameter, so probably a couple inches when uncurled. Myself and my parents just figured that some animal had gotten a hold of it but then dropped in and left it for some reason or other. We knew it wasn't one of our dogs because they would have at least licked up all the slime, even if they didn't eat the actual baby duck.
The truth about what happened was revealed today though. My dad pulled into the driveway and caught the mother duck pecking at one of the eggs in the driveway. She picked it up and hurried a little ways away with it so my dad wouldn't get it and started pecking at the egg again. I finished opening the egg when I saw it in the driveway since the baby wouldn't survive in an egg with a hole in it. This time, the baby duck was almost fully developed. It had feathers and its bill and feet and was pretty much full-sized.
So yeah, apparently the mother is the one cracking open the eggs. I don't know why, but apparently some birds do that kind of thing.
Now I'm in a dilemma because I want those ducklings to survive. The mother is very dedicated to laying on her eggs and doesn't leave them very often, so they should hatch. The question is whether she'll leave them alone for that long. So I don't know if I should let nature take its course (which, if I do let it, I'll have to catch the ducklings after they hatch so that the freakin' stray cats around here and the fox won't get them, and it wouldn't be easy) or if I should take the eggs from her and bring them inside and put them in a box with towels and a heat lamp over them to see if they'll hatch that way. Problem with the second option is, the mother duck keeps the eggs the perfect temperature but a heat lamp wouldn't be as accurate. I'd have to see what temp the eggs were right after she got off them to be sure that I kept the lamp at the right distance from the eggs to keep them at the same temp as the mother would.
I don't want to risk the eggs not hatching if I put them under a heat lamp, but I also don't want to risk them not hatching because of their mother breaking their eggs open before it's time for them to hatch.
I could just take a few of the eggs and try to hatch them myself and leave the rest to her, but I'm not sure.
Any advice on this?
And please don't just say, "Save the babies! They're cute and shouldn't die!" That won't help in my decision since I know they're cute and shouldn't die, but I need to know what others think I should do about it, which might help me figure out what my decision will ultimately be.
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it seems to me that you can either leave them be and clean up the mess each time, or take the eggs and hatch them yourself. Maybe you can try and stick a thermometor into the nest to see what temp it is and use that to adjust the lamp?
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Are you completely sure she'll do this to all her eggs? Is there a reason why and is there a way to make her stop? I wouldn't count on it but it's worth looking up.
From what I can read, it's not vital that the ducklings survive. Thus honestly, the only real loss is caused by your feelings. And judging by your post, I would guess that you'd handle that just fine. Although it is a shame.
If I were you, I'd observe the mother duck closely. See if this continues, maybe look things up online to answer my previous questions. If things continue, I'd try to hatch them myself as a last resort. I know there are egg hatching machines that should work better if it boils down to that. (Pun not intended.)
Good luck anyway, I hope it somehow works out one way or another.
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My post may not seem to show it, but it honestly ticks me off and makes me sad that she's killing her unhatched ducklings. I hate animals dying whether it's vital for them to live or not. These are pets though so I do think that it's vital that they survive and hatch.
I will probably search online tomorrow to try to find the reason for why she'd be doing this, but I'm pretty sure that if she has done it twice, she'd have no issue doing it nine more times. I don't see any logical reason why she would do such a thing, but animals work in mysterious ways, so maybe the internet might tell me something.
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It is heartbreaking, yeah.
Maybe you can find someone that has experience with the same problem? One never knows.