Urgent mallard advice needed

[ElwoodsGirl]

ElwoodsGirl
New Member Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 1

Nesting Mallards

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Hi .. Advice Please

We have a pair of mallards in our garden which we have had since babies and this year they have decided to nest...... We have no room for any more ducks unfortunatly so what is it best to do .. she is laying one egg a day in a beautiful nest and covering them but not yet sitting on them ..... Do we wait until she has finished laying all of her eggs and then take them away or do we let her hatch them and then take them away .... Could we set them free on a lake or does anyone know what is the least traumatic for her ... I am a big softy and this is causing me a dilema !!

Any help appreciated

Thanks

[posie]

Hello, stay online for a while and I'm sure someone will answer you, sometimes takes a little while...Posie..

[valleyforge]

Hi there Elwoodsgirl and welcome to the WAB forum.

To appropriately answer this question, we first need to determine if these are wild mallard which you have hand-reared and then released into your garden, or are they a domesticated strain of mallards that perhaps you bought as ducklings or incubated from eggs?

If they are birds of wild origin now living wild, then the law (Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981) clearly dictates that you cannot disturb, interfere with, remove or damage either the eggs or the nest itself, whilst it is being actively used by the birds.

If the ducks are domesticated, then it would be less cruel to remove the eggs now before incubation begins.

Once the ducklings hatch they will remain dependent on their parents for food, protection and the acquisition of survival skills for quite a while, so you can't just decant them to a pond or lake on their own ... I'm assuming you want to keep the parents around?

Please provide a bit more background information so that we can formulate a more helpful response.

[neldadog]

Birds, their nests and their eggs are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

You cannot therefore take, damage or destroy the nest whilst it is being built or in use.

You cannot also take or destroy the eggs - even if you are moving them to a different place.

If you intefere with the nest or eggs before hatching the mother is likely to abandon them.

I would suggest just leaving the nest and eggs until the chicks have fledged. Once fledged I am sure the mother and chicks will disapear to a river or lake for feeding.

[neldadog]

Posted my reply just as valleyforge did - I agree that whether the bird is wild or domesticated is a very important point!

[ElwoodsGirl]

Thanks everyone for making me welcome.

The mallards are domestic which were hatched from egg in incubation and we have had them from 3 days old. We definatly want to keep the Mum & Dad 'Betty & Ernie' just sadly have no room for any babies ....... Didnt want to take the eggs away and then her just decide to try and nest somewhere else.

I am a big softy and don't want to make them unhappy but just cant have the babies

Thanks again peeps !! x

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by ElwoodsGirl

Thanks everyone for making me welcome.

The mallards are domestic which were hatched from egg in incubation and we have had them from 3 days old. We definatly want to keep the Mum & Dad 'Betty & Ernie' just sadly have no room for any babies ....... Didnt want to take the eggs away and then her just decide to try and nest somewhere else.

I am a big softy and don't want to make them unhappy but just cant have the babies

Thanks again peeps !! x

Could you not advertise the babies for re-homing once they've grown up a bit?

[valleyforge]

Thanks for the feedback ... that makes things much clearer.

Because they are domestic ducks, the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 is not applicable in this case, and you are permitted to remove the eggs.

It is best to do this before the duck begins to incubate the eggs ... when the full clutch has been laid ... so that you are aborting them before the development of the embryos.

In doing so though, you may induce the duck to lay a replacement clutch, which you'd also have to remove; she may then continue to lay replacement eggs either until the end of the breeding season, or if they are free to do so, she and the drake might decide to set up home somewhere else, where their nest isn't being continually plundered.

To counteract that, you can either 'blow' the eggs (pierce top and bottom with a pin and blow at one end to remove the yolk and albumen) then replace the washed & empty eggshells in the nest so that the duck continues to attempt to brood them, with of course no chance of them hatching.

Alternatively, ceramic or plastic eggs may be purchased from some poultry-keeper suppliers and these can instead be placed in the nest.

Perhaps other WAB members who keep ducks will be able to provide further advice.

[Jim Ford]

Originally Posted by valleyforge

It is best to do this before the duck begins to incubate the eggs ... when the full clutch has been laid ... so that you are aborting them before the development of the embryos.

In doing so though, you may induce the duck to lay a replacement clutch, which you'd also have to remove; she may then continue to lay replacement eggs either until the end of the breeding season, or if they are free to do so, she and the drake might decide to set up home somewhere else, where their nest isn't being continually plundered.

To counteract that, you can either 'blow' the eggs (pierce top and bottom with a pin and blow at one end to remove the yolk and albumen) then replace the washed & empty eggshells in the nest so that the duck continues to attempt to brood them, with of course no chance of them hatching.

Alternatively, ceramic or plastic eggs may be purchased from some poultry-keeper suppliers and these can instead be placed in the nest.

Some years ago I saw a keeper at Kew going round the lake seeking out Canada Goose nests. All he did was to prick the eggs with a needle. This prevented them developing and also the geese didn't lay a replacement clutch.

Jim

[valleyforge]

Yes Jim ... provided the yolk sac is ruptured the embryo can't develop.

Another 'trick' often dubiously deployed by councils attempting to minimize their urban gull 'problem', is to dip the eggs in liquid paraffin, castor oil, or similar, to seal the pores of the egg, effectively suffocating its contents.

To prevent cruelty, any of these methods must of course be deployed before incubation has begun.

In both such cases, naturally an appropriate DEFRA licence must be held.

The eggs will of course go bad, and eventually be rejected by the parent birds, so neither of these methods is a guarantee no further clutches will be laid.