Expert: Abi - 4/24/2009

Question
on 10/1/08 a nest if ducks hatched right outside our garage door.  after 24 hours, mama duck walked off with the hatchlings to the lake but we found one unhatched duck in the bottom of the nest that was still alive and couldn't get out of the egg.  we attempted to rescue it, and must've done ok cuz she is still with us.  she hangs out in our garage and back yard 99.9% of the time and we put her in a big dog crate at night to keep her safe.  anyway, i walked into the garage this am to let her out and she laid an egg.  to the best of my knowledge it is not fertilized (since none of the other ducks in the area like her) and i don't know what to do with it!  should i scramble it and feed it back to her??  do ducks have eggs without having sex?  appreciate any insight or websites you might have to offer on this type of info.

Answer
Hello Katherine,

Ducks are a bit like chickens in that they lay eggs whenever they fancy without having been mated with. You can do whatever you like with it; these birds don't get an emotional attachment to them and won't pine if you take them away.

What are you going to do with her by the way? Are you going to release her or keep her as a pet?