Female Mallard sitting on dead eggs

[maialino]

I have a pet female Mallard duck who has been sitting on what I believe are 8 dead eggs for a couple of weeks now. She sits on them only 3-4 hours a day. She comes indoors at night and spends the daytime outside with her wild "boyfriend" who loyally waits for her return each morning. (We have another pet male Mallard who they have shunned--he has an implant so he cannot be the father.) Anyhow, I can't imagine these eggs have survived, being left in the cold overnight and unattended for a majority of the time. Should I just dispose of them? If so, how? Will that upset her? We've had her since birth last year, having rescued her from being stuck in tar. She doesn't seem to have much of the maternal instinct. Thank you!

 

[Knighstar679]

Yes I would get rid of the eggs and destroy the nest. She might be upset a short bit but she isn’t really broody if she is leaving that long.

 

[PirateGirl]

Yes, dispose of the eggs. I'm not sure what day trash day is, but I'd wait until trash day and double bag them. Or you can pop them in the freezer until trash day. You just don't want to end up with a stinky rotten egg mess/disaster.

Going forward, just collect her eggs daily. Don't allow them to accumulate in the nest and sit in the sun/rain. Then you can cook them up for breakfast.

She will probably be a bit upset and noisy for a bit, but she should get over it.

 

[sourland]

I would be tempted to candle the eggs prior to tossing them. I have seen stranger incubations where embryos survived if ambient temperature was warm enough.

 

[MallardMomx2]

I’m with @sourland on this one! I went to dispose of my mallards eggs that I presumed dead and turned out they were very much alive! I’d definitely candle first.