Mrs Duck has gone from her nest. We waited for her to return but the area around her nest smells of fox and C heard a distressed but quick duck noise early this morning. She has either abandoned her nest or the fox has taken her altogether. We waited and waited and some of the eggs that were in there have already been taken (either fox, stoat or ?).
Anyway, we now have 2 duck eggs on our hands that appear to be fertilised and feel heavy as if ducklings are in there. We improvised an incubator (flower pot, silver foil, lightbulb on, temperature gauge, a bowl with water in at the bottom to keep the humidity up and...well it's very improvised). We cannot afford to get an incubator and we have no idea if we are going to meet with success but it is the best we can do as Mrs Duck has had her nest in our garden for at least 3 years and until now has been successful. We have never had to intervene before and it's not something we were hoping to do either. It's rather upsetting to think that she has gone but I've been reading up on what to do (I have actually incubated geese and cared for ducklings before for a wildlife trust thing but that was when I was in my teens so this is like a new experience).
http://www.duckhealth.com/duck.html
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