sad :(

muscovieduck · **Posted:** Wed Apr 06, 2011 11:04 am

I have 2 muscovies sitting at the moment, as well as another mother with 5 ducklings who are growing up fast now. I went out there to feed them this morning and there's flies everywhere in plague proportions. There's usually a few flies, but nowhere near that many. So I fed them and changed their water and then I noticed this really horrible smell. One of the ducks had gotten off the nest to have a drink and the other was making weird noises, so I went to investigate. There's 6 eggs missing and that's where all the flies were coming from. I don't know what happened

I guess they might've accidentally cracked a few of the eggs, which are now rotting. Or they might not have been fertile to begin with. I had a look at the eggs remaining(without getting too close) and there's a couple that look dark, I'm assuming these ones are bad, but there's others that look ok. I couldn't see any bits of shell or egg anywhere in the nest, but I don't know when the eggs went missing, they might've soaked into the nest material or the ducks might've taken them out of the nest. I did find one squashed egg a few meters away. I think both ducks have abandoned the nest/s due to the stench and knowing that something's not right. Should I attempt to save any of the eggs, or just leave it up to them? They were due to hatch next week.

Roova · **Posted:** Wed Apr 06, 2011 1:40 pm

Thats so disappointing

The problem when eggs explode is bacteria is often absorbed by other eggs through their porous shell which can kill the ducklings in the shell. You could try gently wiping any goop off the remaining eggs and totally replacing the nest with new material but the chance of the ducks returning to sit there isn't high. The problem with two ducks sitting on the one nest is they often don't cover all the eggs properly and the incubation process doesn't proceed as its meant to. Not saying thats the problem but it could be a factor.

Better luck next time.

Sebducks · **Joined:** Wed Mar 11, 2009 3:41 pm **Posts:** 812

Oh no! If the eggs exploded in the nest itself when the duck was sitting she will be covered (on her underside) with the excess and most likely will appreciate a bit of a bath if you can provide it for her. I would completely cleanout the nest area and replace what eggs you feel are still viable and hopefully she will come back to them or the other duck will take over. Good luck.

muscovieduck · **Posted:** Thu Apr 07, 2011 8:59 am

I'm not sure if eggs have exploded in the nest or not, I couldn't see any bits of shell or goop, but there were a lot of flies around there. They appear to have been rolling the bad eggs out of the nest and taking them a few meters away where I've found them exploded on the ground. I suspect the sharing of the nest might've been the problem, I was wondering earlier on whether or not the eggs were being covered properly by them. Is there a way to stop them from doing this in future?

They've chosen a spot that's a bit hard for me to get in and clean, I'll have a closer look today and see what I can do.

Sebducks · **Joined:** Wed Mar 11, 2009 3:41 pm **Posts:** 812

Not sure how to keep them apart if they insist on nest sharing. I have segregated a chook before just by putting a board up between her and the rest of them, just a bit of a barrier.

muscovieduck · **Posted:** Mon Apr 18, 2011 9:11 am

well after all that, they ended up rolling some bad eggs out of the nest, and continued sitting. It was a bit hard for me to get in and clean the nest, but they appear to have moved it slightly themselves so it's next to where it was. The due date for the eggs was last Thursday and nothing hatched, so I left it a couple more days in case. I went out with my partner yesterday to take them off the nest and dispose of the eggs, much to my surprise I found a half hatched duckling. I inspected all of the remaining eggs, disposed of any obviously rotten ones and left any that looked ok, several of them vibrated when I picked them up too so hopefully they will have hatched by today. After the rotten egg incident the week before last and observing them steal the eggs off each other and not covering them properly I was sure none of this lot had a chance at hatching.

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