The incubation process for all birds is a very sensitive time, if anything goes wrong during this time then the hatchlings may hatch with issues or they may not hatch at all.
If your duck is only sitting on her eggs at night you’d be right to be concerned, this article explores why this happens
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Duck only sitting on eggs at night:
A mother duck will sit on her eggs to make sure that her eggs are given enough warmth as they grow in the eggs. If a mother duck stops sitting on her eggs, and leaves the eggs for too long, this can cause her eggs to become too cold and die.
She usually sits on her eggs for 20 to 23 hours a day, but if you notice that the bird only sits on her eggs at night then you may start to worry, but worry not, the mother knows what she is doing.
Here is why she does this:
She does not have a full clutch:
Ducks can only lay one egg a day and a clutch usually consists of three to twelve eggs.
The mother bird will not want to lay one egg and start incubating the egg before she has laid the whole clutch. If she were to do this then her ducklings would hatch at different times and this would be difficult to manage for her.
To keep from having to raise some ducklings while incubating others the mother duck will lay an egg and then leave the egg alone and not start incubating until the whole clutch has hatched.
She will only visit the eggs briefly between doing her everyday activities and will sit on the eggs at night if the eggs start to get too cold during this time.
She will only sit on the eggs for 20-23 hours a day once all the eggs have been laid and the eggs will start to mature once there is a sufficient and constant transfer of heat on them.
Sitting on the eggs once all are laid will ensure that the ducklings develop roughly at the same rate and once they are ready, the birds will all hatch at the same time ensuring that no ducklings are left behind.
What to do:
This is normal duck behavior and you have nothing to worry about if you notice a mother duck doing this. Ducks have been incubating, hatching, and raising ducks for a long time and they know what they are doing
You don’t have to intervene during this time in any way, let nature take its course but keep an eye on the bird and her eggs. If she keeps laying eggs daily then the bird is fine.
If the mother lays, and then leaves her eggs to die, then she likely realizes that there is something wrong with the eggs and she prefers to let them die than pour her energy into incubating them.
If you decide to incubate the eggs yourself in an incubator, and there is a problem with the eggs, then the birds may die quickly after hatching or even not hatch at all.
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